Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Sex Ed for Prepubescent boys? Yes please! (Loewenstern #5)
As part of writing the grant proposals and the annual bulletin, much of my week, I venture out with various members of Centro Las Libres, participating in workshops and trying to absorb as much information as possible.
One of the more interesting, enjoyable workshops I attended and helped with recently was a sexual education workshop for middle school students at a public school in San Jose de La Luz, the same community in which I have attended several workshops with women. Three university students from Queretaro put together full lesson plans for the boys and girls of this school covering everything from sexual anatomy, to contraception, to the emotional and spiritual elements in love, sex and relationships. In schools in Guanajuato there is no sexual education of any form and when teachers tried to introduce basic anatomy and technical reproductive health information into their biology text books several years ago, priests and Catholic leaders around the state burned the books in huge public bonfires. Most parents don’t talk to their children about puberty or sex because of their own lack of education and because of embarrassment surrounding the subject matter. Guanajuato has the 3rd highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country, a fact that can be seen in the remarkable number of girls who look much younger than myself carrying babies under their arms as they shop with their friends and go out for coffee dates. The workshops sponsored by Centro Las Libres will probably be the students only exposure to sexual education and their only opportunity to ask an adult figure about their doubts and misunderstandings.
Entering the classroom, I felt a smile stretch across my face and wondered if my maturity and Spanish level would allow me to talk about sexual health with a group of boys between the ages of 11 and 15. I swallowed my smile and took a deep breath when the boys joined us, and Alejandro began the days lesson with sexual anatomy and questions from the past weeks workshop. Opening the first anonymous question, the extent of the misinformation became apparent:
“Si se quema el condón después de tener relaciones sexuales, se previene el embarazo?”
“If you burn the condom after sex, will it prevent pregnancy?”
As the questions continued my Spanish was put to the test. Pulling out (and why it doesn't work) and pre-ejaculate sperm were definitely not topics I ever thought I would breach, nonetheless explain to a group of hispanohablantes. Despite my reservations and nervousness, the students listened to their peers and us attentively, absorbing the new information and sharing their doubts and knowledge.
Throughout the remainder of the 45 minutes we covered the reasons why we weren’t ready and wouldn’t want to become pregnant, the responsibilities of pregnancy, and what love is and what love is not. The students actively participated, and surprised me with their kindness, consideration and seriousness. To reinforce our points we made posters and handed out a comic called “Días Embarazosos” (Pregnant Days), which discusses pregnancy and contraception in a palatable form for pre-teens. By the time we finished with our two groups (15 people in each), I left with a great feeling of accomplishment as well as gratitude for the experience, for the challenge, and for the positive response of the students. As their parents came to pick them up after classes, I noticed several of the women who attend our workshops in the same community were mothers. Realizing that our work percolates through all levels of the community, I couldn’t help but smile and feel reaffirmed in the value of Centro Las Libres. Little by little, grass roots efforts like theirs will change the social dynamics of the culture and bring about the change needed for progress.
Hope everyone is loving summer time!
One of the more interesting, enjoyable workshops I attended and helped with recently was a sexual education workshop for middle school students at a public school in San Jose de La Luz, the same community in which I have attended several workshops with women. Three university students from Queretaro put together full lesson plans for the boys and girls of this school covering everything from sexual anatomy, to contraception, to the emotional and spiritual elements in love, sex and relationships. In schools in Guanajuato there is no sexual education of any form and when teachers tried to introduce basic anatomy and technical reproductive health information into their biology text books several years ago, priests and Catholic leaders around the state burned the books in huge public bonfires. Most parents don’t talk to their children about puberty or sex because of their own lack of education and because of embarrassment surrounding the subject matter. Guanajuato has the 3rd highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country, a fact that can be seen in the remarkable number of girls who look much younger than myself carrying babies under their arms as they shop with their friends and go out for coffee dates. The workshops sponsored by Centro Las Libres will probably be the students only exposure to sexual education and their only opportunity to ask an adult figure about their doubts and misunderstandings.
Entering the classroom, I felt a smile stretch across my face and wondered if my maturity and Spanish level would allow me to talk about sexual health with a group of boys between the ages of 11 and 15. I swallowed my smile and took a deep breath when the boys joined us, and Alejandro began the days lesson with sexual anatomy and questions from the past weeks workshop. Opening the first anonymous question, the extent of the misinformation became apparent:
“Si se quema el condón después de tener relaciones sexuales, se previene el embarazo?”
“If you burn the condom after sex, will it prevent pregnancy?”
As the questions continued my Spanish was put to the test. Pulling out (and why it doesn't work) and pre-ejaculate sperm were definitely not topics I ever thought I would breach, nonetheless explain to a group of hispanohablantes. Despite my reservations and nervousness, the students listened to their peers and us attentively, absorbing the new information and sharing their doubts and knowledge.
Throughout the remainder of the 45 minutes we covered the reasons why we weren’t ready and wouldn’t want to become pregnant, the responsibilities of pregnancy, and what love is and what love is not. The students actively participated, and surprised me with their kindness, consideration and seriousness. To reinforce our points we made posters and handed out a comic called “Días Embarazosos” (Pregnant Days), which discusses pregnancy and contraception in a palatable form for pre-teens. By the time we finished with our two groups (15 people in each), I left with a great feeling of accomplishment as well as gratitude for the experience, for the challenge, and for the positive response of the students. As their parents came to pick them up after classes, I noticed several of the women who attend our workshops in the same community were mothers. Realizing that our work percolates through all levels of the community, I couldn’t help but smile and feel reaffirmed in the value of Centro Las Libres. Little by little, grass roots efforts like theirs will change the social dynamics of the culture and bring about the change needed for progress.
Hope everyone is loving summer time!
Amor es: amar a una persona, un sentimiento, querer, amar mutua, respetar, sale de una mismo, adentro, amistad, honestidad
Love is: loving a person, a feeling, to want, mutual, respect, outside of yourself, inside, friendship, honesty
Amor NO es: pornografía, pleitos, falta de respeto, violencia, no querer, acusación, violación
Love is NOT: pornography, fighting, a lack of respect, violence, no love, accusation, rape.
Workshops in San Jose de La Luz
The classroom we taught in.
A comic we used to teach about the responsibilities involved in having a child and contraception.
Of the student that attend this school, approximately 40% will continue to high school and at best around 8% will attend a university. Familial and economic needs prevent the remainder of the students from completing their education.
Public school in San Jose de la Luz
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Mujeres denunciadas por un aborto y encarceladas por homicidio en razón de parentesco
La otra población de mujeres afectadas son las que actualmente están en prisión procesadas por el delito de aborto y sentenciadas por el delito de homicidio en razón de parentesco en agravio del producto en gestación. Esta realidad nos enfrenta directamente con la sociedad porque estas mujeres han sido víctimas “acumuladas” de la pobreza, de la injusticia, de la exclusión, y de un sistema que reproduce la violencia contra las mujeres, entre ellas se encuentran 2 mujeres que fueron víctimas de una violación, se practicaron el aborto por el cual ahora están sentenciadas por homicidio en razón de parentesco y purgando una condena que va de 8 a 35 años, brutal diferencia entre el delito de aborto que su pena máxima son 3 años y procede la libertad bajo caución.
Un dato para ejemplificar los casos de las mujeres que actualmente están en la cárcel purgando una condena por un aborto/homicidio, nos la proporciona la siguiente referencia: De acuerdo a los datos oficiales entregados por la Dirección General de Ejecución Penitenciaria y Readaptación Social, existen solo 7 mujeres encarceladas por “homicidio en razón de parentesco en agravio de su menor hijo(a) en gestación” (6 en el CERESO de Guanajuato y 1 en el CERESO MIL de Valle de Santiago). Sin embargo, desprendido de la investigación detallada que el Centro Las Libres ha desarrollado en los CERESOS de Guanajuato, hemos encontrado a 8 mujeres en el CERESO de Guanajuato y 2 en el CERESO de Valle de Santiago, hasta ahora. Después de conocer las historias de vida de estas mujeres y la lectura de sus expedientes (de los cuales tenemos copia), resumimos a continuación una breve descripción de algunas de ellas. (Los nombres no son reales, son nombres ficticios, para respetar la confidencialidad de estas mujeres)
La otra población de mujeres afectadas son las que actualmente están en prisión procesadas por el delito de aborto y sentenciadas por el delito de homicidio en razón de parentesco en agravio del producto en gestación. Esta realidad nos enfrenta directamente con la sociedad porque estas mujeres han sido víctimas “acumuladas” de la pobreza, de la injusticia, de la exclusión, y de un sistema que reproduce la violencia contra las mujeres, entre ellas se encuentran 2 mujeres que fueron víctimas de una violación, se practicaron el aborto por el cual ahora están sentenciadas por homicidio en razón de parentesco y purgando una condena que va de 8 a 35 años, brutal diferencia entre el delito de aborto que su pena máxima son 3 años y procede la libertad bajo caución.
Un dato para ejemplificar los casos de las mujeres que actualmente están en la cárcel purgando una condena por un aborto/homicidio, nos la proporciona la siguiente referencia: De acuerdo a los datos oficiales entregados por la Dirección General de Ejecución Penitenciaria y Readaptación Social, existen solo 7 mujeres encarceladas por “homicidio en razón de parentesco en agravio de su menor hijo(a) en gestación” (6 en el CERESO de Guanajuato y 1 en el CERESO MIL de Valle de Santiago). Sin embargo, desprendido de la investigación detallada que el Centro Las Libres ha desarrollado en los CERESOS de Guanajuato, hemos encontrado a 8 mujeres en el CERESO de Guanajuato y 2 en el CERESO de Valle de Santiago, hasta ahora. Después de conocer las historias de vida de estas mujeres y la lectura de sus expedientes (de los cuales tenemos copia), resumimos a continuación una breve descripción de algunas de ellas. (Los nombres no son reales, son nombres ficticios, para respetar la confidencialidad de estas mujeres)
El proyecto final de mi practica
El Centro Las Libres de Información en Salud Sexual Región Centro AC, a través de las instancias gubernamentales y por medio de la Ley de Acceso a la Información Pública para el Estado y los Municipios de Guanajuato; de entrevistas directas con funcionarios públicos y con prestadores de servicios de salud y de justicia; así como los testimonios de las mismas mujeres afectadas, hemos podido ir construyendo la investigación de un fenómeno que parecía imposible comprobar; el encarcelamiento de las mujeres por ejercer su derecho a decidir. Conforme vamos conociendo las historias de estas mujeres, vamos encontrando cómo un sistema de procuración y administración de justicia se ha ensañado con ellas. Estas mujeres tienen características comunes, tales como:
Mujeres pobres, mujeres con escaso acceso a la educación formal, mujeres con escasos recursos económicos y herramientas de vida para la defensa de sus derechos básicos, mujeres con familias tradicionales en donde persiste un temor al ejercicio pleno de la sexualidad, así como una deficiente comunicación entre hijas y padres y madres. Escaso conocimiento sobre el funcionamiento de su cuerpo, su reproducción, su ciclo menstrual, su derecho a ejercer una sexualidad libre y placentera, falta de acceso a métodos anticonceptivos, falta de herramientas para la negociación en la relaciones de pareja. Hombres que no se responsabilizaron de su reproducción, (parejas sexuales que no se responsabilizaron del uso de métodos anticonceptivos para prevenir una ITS, un embarazo no deseado y mucho menos pensar en el ejercicio de la paternidad). Familias donde existe un temor fundado a quedar embarazada, mujeres que se la juegan solas a continuar o interrumpir un embarazo en soledad, desolación, tristeza, abandono y sobre todo, miedo. Mujeres que ponen en riesgo su vida y su libertad al practicarse un aborto en condiciones de clandestinidad.
Del 2000 a 2009, hemos ido constatando elementos, que nos van mostrando a niñas, adolescentes, mujeres, mujeres con alguna discapacidad mental, que son víctimas de violación donde el “agresor” abusó de la confianza, abusó de su poder, de sus recursos económicos para someter, engañar, dañar y violar a estas mujeres. Y lejos de encontrar en quienes administran y procuran la justicia, el reconocimiento y la consideración de estos elementos en la vida de las propias mujeres para valorar las razones sociales, jurídicas, médicas y “actuar”, encontraron desprecio, saña, misoginia y machismo a la hora de aplicar “la ley” y en estas mujeres encontraron a las idóneas para “ejecutar castigos ejemplares” como mensaje para el resto de las mujeres que pudieran considerar ejercer su derecho a Elegir, el derecho a decidir su reproducción, la maternidad y a practicar libre y plenamente su sexualidad, tal y como consagra el derecho constitucional establecido en el Art. 4. “El varón y la mujer son iguales ante la ley. Esta protegerá la organización y el desarrollo de la familia. Toda persona tiene derecho a decidir de manera libre, responsable e informada sobre el número y el espaciamiento de sus hijos”.
Mujeres pobres, mujeres con escaso acceso a la educación formal, mujeres con escasos recursos económicos y herramientas de vida para la defensa de sus derechos básicos, mujeres con familias tradicionales en donde persiste un temor al ejercicio pleno de la sexualidad, así como una deficiente comunicación entre hijas y padres y madres. Escaso conocimiento sobre el funcionamiento de su cuerpo, su reproducción, su ciclo menstrual, su derecho a ejercer una sexualidad libre y placentera, falta de acceso a métodos anticonceptivos, falta de herramientas para la negociación en la relaciones de pareja. Hombres que no se responsabilizaron de su reproducción, (parejas sexuales que no se responsabilizaron del uso de métodos anticonceptivos para prevenir una ITS, un embarazo no deseado y mucho menos pensar en el ejercicio de la paternidad). Familias donde existe un temor fundado a quedar embarazada, mujeres que se la juegan solas a continuar o interrumpir un embarazo en soledad, desolación, tristeza, abandono y sobre todo, miedo. Mujeres que ponen en riesgo su vida y su libertad al practicarse un aborto en condiciones de clandestinidad.
Del 2000 a 2009, hemos ido constatando elementos, que nos van mostrando a niñas, adolescentes, mujeres, mujeres con alguna discapacidad mental, que son víctimas de violación donde el “agresor” abusó de la confianza, abusó de su poder, de sus recursos económicos para someter, engañar, dañar y violar a estas mujeres. Y lejos de encontrar en quienes administran y procuran la justicia, el reconocimiento y la consideración de estos elementos en la vida de las propias mujeres para valorar las razones sociales, jurídicas, médicas y “actuar”, encontraron desprecio, saña, misoginia y machismo a la hora de aplicar “la ley” y en estas mujeres encontraron a las idóneas para “ejecutar castigos ejemplares” como mensaje para el resto de las mujeres que pudieran considerar ejercer su derecho a Elegir, el derecho a decidir su reproducción, la maternidad y a practicar libre y plenamente su sexualidad, tal y como consagra el derecho constitucional establecido en el Art. 4. “El varón y la mujer son iguales ante la ley. Esta protegerá la organización y el desarrollo de la familia. Toda persona tiene derecho a decidir de manera libre, responsable e informada sobre el número y el espaciamiento de sus hijos”.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Rape Victims and Abortion in Mexico
But even the existing inadequate protections are not properly implemented.Police, public prosecutors, and health officials treat many rape victims dismissively and disrespectfully, regularly accusing girls and women of fabricating the rape. Specialized public prosecutor's offices on sexual violence, where they exist, are often in practice the only place to report sexual violence, further impeding access to justice for rape victims in more remote locations.Many victims of violence fear retribution from the perpetrator, especially if he is a family member.As a consequence, the vast majority of rape victims do not file a report at all.Generous estimates suggest 10 percent of rape victims file an official complaint.The real proportion is likely even less.
For rape victims who become pregnant but do not report the rape, legal abortion is ruled out.All jurisdictions in Mexico treat abortion as a crime-and some states indeed jail women who have illegal abortions-though access to legal abortion is considered a rape victim's right everywhere.Only three of Mexico's thirty-two independent jurisdictions have issued detailed legal and administrative guidelines on how to guarantee this right, and all require that the victims report the rape as an essential first step.In the remaining twenty-nine jurisdictions, confusion reigns.
When pregnant rape and incest victims do report the assault and insist that they want an abortion, they are sent on a veritable obstacle-course that materially diminishes their possibility of obtaining a legal abortion.The worst abuses occur in jurisdictions without administrative guidelines, where the void of guidance seems to terrify officials into inaction and leaves justice and health officials free to claim they have no mandate to facilitate access to legal abortion.
The full horror of what rape victims go through in their attempt to obtain a legal abortion-often including humiliation, degradation, and physical suffering-is in essence a second assault by the justice and health systems. Some girls, like "Graciela Hernndez" who was made pregnant by a father who raped her in hotel rooms every week for more than a year, lose access to legal abortion when prosecutors charge a perpetrator with incest instead of rape.Others, like "Marcela Gmez" seventeen-year-old daughter who was raped by a stranger, are passed from one public agency to another as none want to authorize the abortion.Some are bounced back and forth until the pregnancy is too advanced to be interrupted safely and legally.Others are threatened with jail for procuring a legal abortion, and many are told, without cause, that an abortion at any time during the pregnancy could kill them.
Public officials at times aggressively discourage abortion after rape, including for very young rape victims.A social worker in Jalisco told Human Rights Watch: "We had the case of an eleven or twelve-year-old girl who had been raped by her brother. She came here wanting to have an abortion, but we worked with her psychologically, and in the end she kept her baby.Her little child-sibling."
Taken from- http://www.hrw.org/en/node/11460/section/2
For rape victims who become pregnant but do not report the rape, legal abortion is ruled out.All jurisdictions in Mexico treat abortion as a crime-and some states indeed jail women who have illegal abortions-though access to legal abortion is considered a rape victim's right everywhere.Only three of Mexico's thirty-two independent jurisdictions have issued detailed legal and administrative guidelines on how to guarantee this right, and all require that the victims report the rape as an essential first step.In the remaining twenty-nine jurisdictions, confusion reigns.
When pregnant rape and incest victims do report the assault and insist that they want an abortion, they are sent on a veritable obstacle-course that materially diminishes their possibility of obtaining a legal abortion.The worst abuses occur in jurisdictions without administrative guidelines, where the void of guidance seems to terrify officials into inaction and leaves justice and health officials free to claim they have no mandate to facilitate access to legal abortion.
The full horror of what rape victims go through in their attempt to obtain a legal abortion-often including humiliation, degradation, and physical suffering-is in essence a second assault by the justice and health systems. Some girls, like "Graciela Hernndez" who was made pregnant by a father who raped her in hotel rooms every week for more than a year, lose access to legal abortion when prosecutors charge a perpetrator with incest instead of rape.Others, like "Marcela Gmez" seventeen-year-old daughter who was raped by a stranger, are passed from one public agency to another as none want to authorize the abortion.Some are bounced back and forth until the pregnancy is too advanced to be interrupted safely and legally.Others are threatened with jail for procuring a legal abortion, and many are told, without cause, that an abortion at any time during the pregnancy could kill them.
Public officials at times aggressively discourage abortion after rape, including for very young rape victims.A social worker in Jalisco told Human Rights Watch: "We had the case of an eleven or twelve-year-old girl who had been raped by her brother. She came here wanting to have an abortion, but we worked with her psychologically, and in the end she kept her baby.Her little child-sibling."
Taken from- http://www.hrw.org/en/node/11460/section/2
The criminalization of children's sexual behavior-even where they may be victims of abuse-is the more troubling because of a generally low age of consent in Mexico.In two jurisdictions, children are considered capable of consenting to sexual relationships once they reach puberty with no age specified. In twenty-one of Mexico's thirty-two jurisdictions, children are considered capable of consenting to sexual intercourse at the age of twelve, in one jurisdiction the age is thirteen, in seven jurisdictions it is fourteen, and only in one it is fifteen.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Human Rights Watch Letter to the Governor of Guanajuato in 2009
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/03/05/letter-governor-guanajuato-mexico
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Las muertas de León, diez crímenes contra un núcleo dominante de mujeres jóvenes y pobres
Los diez asesinatos en agravio de mujeres tienen varias constantes que dominan: muerte con saña en todos; violación o intento en nueve. La mayor parte eran de pocos recursos económicos. Las edades de las difuntas van de los 13 a los 72 años. En por lo menos cuatro hechos participaron dos o más hombres. Es el retrato de la violencia contra las mujeres en este municipio.
-Correo
-Correo
Loewenstern Journal entry #1
Although I have been volunteering fifteen hours a week for the past four months, this week school will end and my real work will begin and my fellowship will begin. In many ways, the past four months served as a preparation time, a time in which I absorbed the issues, the language, the culture and the work of Las Libres. This coming month I will use that knowledge to carry out my Loewenstern project and hopefully help this organization to achieve its greater goals.
Before I arrived in January, I imagined myself leading workshops on sexual health in rural communities, using my Spanish to teach about contraception, sexual rights and resources. After spending time in this community and the surrounding communities I realize that would be a waste of my time and theirs. To teach on such taboo subjects in a foreign language, as a young, American girl to a group of women, mostly mothers, between the ages of 18 and 60, would be little more than a joke. Gaining the trust and respect of those women, learning their stories and their culture, would be a much greater task that 6 months could afford me and would be much better left to the women they already trust, the workers at Las Libres. Realizing this I felt rather discouraged, not sure of how I could best contribute to this organization such that both the organization and I would benefit.
When I spoke with Verónica, the chair of the organization, about my dilemma she gave me the perfect task, a final project that aligns with all of my goals in coming here. Las Libres is about to embark on a huge campaign to raise money for the resources they need to help the women we work with in prison. In the state of Guanajuato, eight women have been imprisoned because of illegal abortions or because of alleged abortions; upon delivering still-born children the doctors accused them of intentionally “murdering their fetus.” Because these women are poor, with little education and no knowledge of the legal system in Mexico, they had no means of defending themselves against these accusations and are now imprisoned because of crimes they didn’t commit. Instead of being tried under abortion laws, these women were penalized for homicide and will spend between 15-40 years in prison instead of the normal abortion sentence of 1-3. On top if the injustice in their incarceration and excessive punishments, some of these women were rape victims. The politicians in Guanajuato design the laws which punished these women to criminalize the most vulnerable, those denied an education, denied opportunities to change their social status, and denied a just trial. It is another issue that wraps into the system of oppression which maintains the wealthiest classes here and exploits the ignorance of the poor.
We visit these women every Thursday, learning their stories and helping them to enjoy the short time we are there as much as possible. In our office, the lawyers at Las Libres have gone through their files, studied their cases and prepared to try to appeal their cases to a higher federal court in hopes of lowering their sentences and possibly freeing some of the women. This summer Las Libres will begin to gather the funds to pay for this gigantic process. Verónica gave me and two other volunteers from the US the task of writing grants to US donors, of creating a fundraising packet to distribute to English speakers, and of writing their yearly bulletin. As none of the women in Las Libres speak English, this is an ideal way in which I can best contribute. To write these grant applications, I will study each of the women’s cases and meet with them individually, learning their stories and conducting interviews which Verónica helps me prepare. Outside of the personal interactions, the other volunteers and I will formally study the laws in Guanajuato and the history of issues related to abortion rights in Guanajuato and Mexico. This job feels a bit daunting, but manageable and realistic for my last month working here and I couldn’t be more excited.
Lastly, if you didn’t see my last e-mail there is a very exciting article in More Magazine that includes my boss and the Executive Chair of Las Libres, Verónica Cruz. Her story is on page 8, and I translated the interview used to write the piece.
http://www.more.com/2050/22144-the-most-dangerous-women-in
If this link doesn’t work you can find the article if you google “More Magazine Veronica Cruz.”
Before I arrived in January, I imagined myself leading workshops on sexual health in rural communities, using my Spanish to teach about contraception, sexual rights and resources. After spending time in this community and the surrounding communities I realize that would be a waste of my time and theirs. To teach on such taboo subjects in a foreign language, as a young, American girl to a group of women, mostly mothers, between the ages of 18 and 60, would be little more than a joke. Gaining the trust and respect of those women, learning their stories and their culture, would be a much greater task that 6 months could afford me and would be much better left to the women they already trust, the workers at Las Libres. Realizing this I felt rather discouraged, not sure of how I could best contribute to this organization such that both the organization and I would benefit.
When I spoke with Verónica, the chair of the organization, about my dilemma she gave me the perfect task, a final project that aligns with all of my goals in coming here. Las Libres is about to embark on a huge campaign to raise money for the resources they need to help the women we work with in prison. In the state of Guanajuato, eight women have been imprisoned because of illegal abortions or because of alleged abortions; upon delivering still-born children the doctors accused them of intentionally “murdering their fetus.” Because these women are poor, with little education and no knowledge of the legal system in Mexico, they had no means of defending themselves against these accusations and are now imprisoned because of crimes they didn’t commit. Instead of being tried under abortion laws, these women were penalized for homicide and will spend between 15-40 years in prison instead of the normal abortion sentence of 1-3. On top if the injustice in their incarceration and excessive punishments, some of these women were rape victims. The politicians in Guanajuato design the laws which punished these women to criminalize the most vulnerable, those denied an education, denied opportunities to change their social status, and denied a just trial. It is another issue that wraps into the system of oppression which maintains the wealthiest classes here and exploits the ignorance of the poor.
We visit these women every Thursday, learning their stories and helping them to enjoy the short time we are there as much as possible. In our office, the lawyers at Las Libres have gone through their files, studied their cases and prepared to try to appeal their cases to a higher federal court in hopes of lowering their sentences and possibly freeing some of the women. This summer Las Libres will begin to gather the funds to pay for this gigantic process. Verónica gave me and two other volunteers from the US the task of writing grants to US donors, of creating a fundraising packet to distribute to English speakers, and of writing their yearly bulletin. As none of the women in Las Libres speak English, this is an ideal way in which I can best contribute. To write these grant applications, I will study each of the women’s cases and meet with them individually, learning their stories and conducting interviews which Verónica helps me prepare. Outside of the personal interactions, the other volunteers and I will formally study the laws in Guanajuato and the history of issues related to abortion rights in Guanajuato and Mexico. This job feels a bit daunting, but manageable and realistic for my last month working here and I couldn’t be more excited.
Lastly, if you didn’t see my last e-mail there is a very exciting article in More Magazine that includes my boss and the Executive Chair of Las Libres, Verónica Cruz. Her story is on page 8, and I translated the interview used to write the piece.
http://www.more.com/2050/22144-the-most-dangerous-women-in
If this link doesn’t work you can find the article if you google “More Magazine Veronica Cruz.”
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