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on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Thursday, January 18, 2018

The Murder of the Little Girl in Red Socks

Posted by DD Republished from Daily Times  and The Frida Medio Blog
Frida's Blog translated by Yaqui


Kneeling at four-year-old Lupita’s grave, Mexican activist Veronica Villarreal spoke to the murdered girl as if she had known her all her short life.

“Hey girl,” she said, laying flowers on the earth.

In reality, Villalvazo never met the child long known only as “the little girl in the red socks.” But she was determined not to let her be just another anonymous statistic in the wave of violence against women and girls in Mexico.

Lupita’s semi-naked body, beaten and sexually assaulted, was found in a Mexico City suburb on March 18.

No one came forward to claim her, and for months, she was known only by the clothing she had on when locals found her in a vacant lot: a pair of bright red socks.


Villalvazo, a 47-year-old journalist and women’s rights activist, first read about the case in the local newspapers she monitors every day in an attempt to document Mexico’s epidemic of violence against women. The problem, which has lingered for years, exploded into the headlines again in 2017, when 7.5 women were murdered per day, according to statistics from the United Nations and the government — a new high after three years of decline.

Villalvazo, who goes by the pseudonym “Frida Guerrera” (Frida the Warrior), did not want the girl’s case to end as just another unsolved homicide in a country where 99 percent of violent crimes are never punished.  


(DD note: Vallalvazo maintains the Frida Medio Blog created on July 1, 2007, with the purpose of denouncing the violations of Human Rights in Oaxaca, has covered the social conflict of 2006, the conflict in the Triqui region of the State ... in 2010 FridaGuerrera was recognized as the first, Carlos Montemayor National Prize ... for giving voice to the triqui population displaced and murdered by the PRI governments. As of 2016 registering femicides throughout the country …The column chronicling her search for Lupita and her fight to seek justice for Lupita's murder is at the end of this Daily Times story.  It will bring tears to your eyes.)

She asked authorities for a picture that could help identify the girl. But she never received an answer.

“The authorities’ silence is a touchy subject. The message they send is, ‘We don’t care. We’re not going to do anything,’” Villalvazo told AFP.

“In Mexico, it’s no big deal — you can kill a woman, a girl, rape her, torture her, kidnap her, and absolutely nothing will happen to you, because they don’t investigate. Because it doesn’t concern them.”

Finally, a confidential source passed Villalvazo a bloody crime scene photo, which she was able to use to create a composite sketch of the girl.

It was the first step toward identifying her and finding her killers — a long journey that took a decisive turn Wednesday when prosecutors finally announced the girl’s identity at a press conference, shortly after arresting her mother and stepfather and charging them with her murder.

Villalvazo published the sketch of Lupita everywhere she could.

That ultimately led two of the girl’s aunts to get in touch with her last November.

They had not had any news on Lupita for months, and got murky responses whenever they asked her mother — their sister — about her.

In interviews with AFP, they described the girl’s short life as one of abuse and abandonment.

“She didn’t deserve this,” said one aunt, Marina Concepcion Medina, 39.

Lupita’s parents never registered her for a birth certificate, and she was bounced around from home to home — at one point living with garbage pickers.

Marina and her sister Luz Maria Medina, 33, asked to take her in after noticing bruises on her and other signs of abuse. “I told (my sister), ‘Leave her here.’ Lupita grabbed my hand and told me she didn’t want to leave with her mom,” Luz Maria said.



FROM FRIDA'S BLOG

< THE ROTA / FRIDAGUERRERA COLUMN
 Buscarte #CalcetitasRojas #Yolloxochitzin #Lupita


Red socks were the only things she was left wearing along with her water-green sweatshirt, black boots thrown contemptuously next to her body and a small blanket with little bear cubs on it near her head found in a vacant lot where now nearly ten months later had accumulated heaps of dirt and debris as if pretending to bury the terrible crime against the one whom I affectionately call “my girl.”  

That March 18, 2017, when I found the image after documenting daily the search for it, it brought  tears to my being as a mother and person and to those who have followed my daily transmission of #FeminicideNationalEmergency since April 26, 2017. It was then I requested, in the absence of a face, data that would lead me to find out who this little girl was.  Day after day, I requested the support of thousands of people who had seen us for eight months.

 On October 27, we managed to get that first face; after an arduous task someone finally made the connection requested and the first painful image showing the face of the severally wounded little girl arrived.  

 On November 1st, after announcing it on my Columna Rota and showing the face of the little girl  wearing red socks, a feminicide , a murder in which the pain does not subside, many let me know that it was impossible that we were not going to be able to find her, her family, her identity and much less those who had dared to murder her, rape her, bite her and leave her lying there like garbage.   

I knew that she had been "buried by the Prosecutor's Office in a private vault”;  that's fine, but once again she was hidden and invisible, as if she had not existed.

A forensic artist named  Rosa Alejandra Arce, realized this need to give a face and identity to the girl and it was on November 15, 2017 we released the second image.  After that everything was like a wave; I received dozens of messages telling me that maybe it was a girl seen in such  and such a place, one from a woman who saw the corpse of the little girl in the Forensic Medical Service (SEMEFO) in Nezahualcóyotl;  she was looking for her niece and fortunately for her it was not her niece, but she was sure that it was my girl.
  
Someone else then told me that she looked very similar to her niece, and when this woman called me, I felt I had the need to meet her.

On November 25, 2017 I received a message via Facebook  and someone  asked to talk with me about the girl, I asked for a phone number and called it , that was November 27, 2017  when we talked and the woman was indeed the girl’s  Aunt Marina.

Everything has happened quickly since then,  I went to see her  and talked with the two aunts who suspected that it could be their niece, “my girl”, and finally they were more than convinced that their niece was the missing little girl.  

On December 14, 2017, once again I received a Facebook message. On this occasion , a young man, Alberto , (for security we changed his name), told me that he had something to tell me about the girl. 

I went to see him the very next day, December 15. With a photo and a video of the girl  alive , which he shared , convinced me; it was her in that photograph and she was wearing  the booties that were left near her injured little body.

December 18, 2017 , everything was finalized, there is really no point in saying that the entire investigation was given to the Attorney General of the State of Mexico.

That Which  Seemed Impossible:

Lupita was born on January 16, 2013 in Nezahualcóyotl, State of Mexico, she was the fourth daughter of "Monse".  The story of the little one is like that of many of our girls in this country, she came  from a mother with drug addiction problems in a world where poverty and institutional neglect are felt daily without really looking for ways to address such a serious problem.   Jeremy Guadalupe, as she was known by the people close to her , was not registered when she was born, she was delivered by a midwife, one of those many women who help thousands of women that do not have access to health services.

Lupita was born under  protections that were never granted.  Many people wanted and tried to take care of her, but for some reason no one could make it.  Lupita , like the rest of Monse’s children moved from place to place; all who tried to help were rejected by Monse, the mother of the girl. Nothing much could be expected from Lupita’s mother since she was educated in the same way; by a mother who only sought personal satisfaction, not giving thought to her children who were not animals and who raised themselves.

On December 2, 2013, Monse was imprisoned for robbery. Lupita was left in the house of "someone" from where she was later rescued by the maternal family.  She was full of lice, suffered from pediculosis, for two years the little girl , Lupita, was shuttled between her grandmother's house and “other people who took care of her.”  

However, at that time while her aunts , Marina y Luz, her maternal grandmother and people who knew her were trying to rescue the girl, the innocent Lupita was handed over to her mother on April 2, 2016 when she got out of jail.

Again Lupita wandered in the street and among garbage dumps next to her mother. In December 2016, Lupita arrived at Doña Rufina's house ( a fictitious name to protect her identity) in Lago Cuitzeo , very close to the neighborhood where she had stayed with Karla, as the little girl called her, a woman  “who used to  burn her with cigarettes”.

"Abuelita I'm hungry !” , Lupita expressed ,while hugging Doña Rufina's legs, who was standing in the laundry room as usual, a woman as humble as her but with a giant heart.  Alberto saw and heard Doña Rufina, who  is the young man's grandmother, the little girl wore green-blue pants full of holes, a pink t-shirt, and black little black boots. 
 "It's only one taco  abuelita.  Can’t I have  one?"  pleaded the little girl. 

It was approximately 5pm that afternoon of  December 20, 2016 when  Alberto gave her a coin to buy  potato chips and  a "coca".  She then returned to the house of Doña Rufina. After that she did not want to leave. During the 15 days no one came looking for her ,Dona Rufina, Alondra and Alberto became grandmother , mother and father in Lupita’s eyes.

While the family tried to teach and educate her, Lupita  continued to look through garbage cans  for food to their disgust and with tears in her eyes, Dona Rufina told me that she had hide the trash cans so Lupita couldn’t rummage through them. The family tried to establish and maintain regular hours for meals, which was impossible, the little girl wanted to eat constantly ; when she least expected it Dona Rufino found Lupita was “ eating with some aunts or uncles and  her father.”

“My” little girl, “your” little girl, “our” little girl was snatched from Dona Rufina and Alberto’s family home in the middle of February by Monse, her mother, and Pablo her stepfather. They only let Dona Rufina know that they were taking  her away.

"There was nothing I could do, she was her mother" Dona Rufina tells me and since then nobody saw her again, only Pablo's mother who on March 17 went to DIF in Neza to let her know that the girl had been severely beaten by Pablo and her mom.

On March 18 her  body was found very early in the morning and was reported, there was Lupita, Yolloxochitzin, “our girl”, raped savagely, murdered and left as a piece of nothing, a nobody who remained anonymous to everyone for almost nine months.

The authorities did little to find her or identify her, only proudly, I was told by the Prosecutor Irma Millán : “I BURIED HER, I MADE HER MASS AND I DID NOT MAKE A VIDEO SO THAT IT WOULD BE KNOWN.” 

Yes, Irma Millan, the same one who did not answer my attempts to collaborate with them on April 26, 2017 to help find Lupita. Neither Irma Millán, nor Alejandro Gómez, Prosecutor of feminicides and State Attorney General nor anyone else did anything to find out who this little girl was. 

Marina and Luz María , Lupita’s two aunts, went that November 27 to the Prosecutor's Office of Nezahualcóyotl.  Right away, the officials  made it known that the girl had already been claimed by her grandparents and said that it was already a closed case; "they even showed me pictures of the grandparents", says Marina, then immediately as they were leaving, they were rebuked, questioned about why they had not come before to claim Lupita or why they had not looked for her earlier.   
 "We had not seen anything, nor did we look for anyone until we saw her image with Frida”.

TO HUG LUPITA

To know the  daily life with the girl's family has given me the opportunity to know the context in which she grew up, to meet her two little brothers who are fortunately with a family that loves and protects them and her older sister who is with an aunt, who does everything possible to overcome the hundreds of problems that have come together after making the complaint, the official denouncement. 
On January 6, 2018, I met her little sister , another little girl who was only a year younger than  “my girl”.  When she was in front of me, she disarmed me , it was her, her same face, her voice, she came out with her little skateboard, there in Neza, she was wearing striped pajamas, pink with blue and white, and when she saw me she smiled. I could not but kneel before her, I opened my arms, to receive her shouting : “Hello Beautiful !”.  She hugged me, I shed a couple of tears but  I could not let myself cry in front of her and  with her little voice she said: "Monse killed Lupita but I do not want to feel ugly inside, touching her heart, I just want to love Lupita, forgive Monse, now that she is in heaven, but I have asked the kings for her “Casimerito” doll, which arrived at her sister's house.
The sensation still remains in my arms, in my head, her arms around my neck, lying on my shoulder, I did not want to let go, it was like hugging Lupita, Yolloxochitzin, “my little girl” that after months of looking for her ; a girl who is dead , who I did not know alive but that the personal conviction led me to look for her as well as find her, as if looking for a needle in a haystack.
When Monse and Pablo were arrested, I couldn’t see more than the face I had searched for for months and I saw it with tears in my eyes, seeing her, alive, innocent, the photo of her face etched in my mind.
I told you “my girl”, they could not just leave you there and not pay for so much pain.

Frida, Jan 2018:

I wanted to tell the story of disappearances and feminicides and why I look for them; to help me better visualize them. 
DD note:  This is a farewell note that  Alberto wrote to LUPITA  and gave to Frida;
For some reason you came into my life as a gift that destiny put on my road .You arrived hungry, cold, lacking love, affection, things that in your little 4 years you never knew.

You suddenly arrived one afternoon and without knocking on the door you entered the house and you entered my heart to stay forever.

You were and will be a daughter to me as I will always be your Papi , who maybe did not have the joy of seeing you born or watch you grow, but I ran with the happiness of you calling me Papa and loving you for it.

Forgive me because I could not defend you when you needed me most , for at that time I would have given everything to take you by my hand and never let you go, much less allow you to suffer and even less in the way you left me , my girl , but just as the  day you arrived and asked me for a taco, asked me to give you clothes because you were cold, just as you came into my life , it was enough to look into your eyes and see the suffering, the tenderness, the nobility you carried  and then without anyone asking you to,  you called  me Papa. 

Now I will fight to the end and try to make  justice happen and may no-one have to suffer again what you suffered my girl, my Lupita, always forever, I will be your Papi who loves that you are my girl.

My Lupita Girl
Alberto

35 comments:

  1. Ah, the "feminide"-spiel getting a new round of action. Are you gonna come down hard on censoring everyone who calls out on this bullshit just as you did the last time?

    “In Mexico, it’s no big deal — you can kill a woman, a girl, rape her, torture her, kidnap her, and absolutely nothing will happen to you, because they don’t investigate. Because it doesn’t concern them"

    Is this state of things somehow dissolved as soon as a boy/man gets murdered at wich point justice is served immediately? Typical entitled feminist fraud manipulating and picking what's convenient in order to garner preferential treatment to women.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I I knew of a person doing this kind of thing without punishment , I would punish them .

      Delete
    2. Excellent point!

      Delete
    3. 7:38 . As callused as you sound you have made your point . Maybe they are trying to further their cause by focusing attention to this little girl . In my opinion and most normal thinking , feeling people , whoever done this is the lowest form of human out there . I am a man and if this woman can do anything to prevent any of this she is righteous . I cannot understand you condemning this person and their cause . I don't know all the statistics on rapes murders , prosecutions , convictions , male , female or any of that . Something isn't right about a person that can speak out against another that is trying to bring focus and hopefully prevent this shit . Dude you have issues .

      Delete
    4. 7:38 I don't go into this actively to politicize the victims but i get dragged into it anyway since that's how she frames it. Ofcourse it's nothing wrong with mentioning these murders but she shouldn't go about it in such dishonest ways as to exploit dead men, hijack and abuse their fate making it "her" own (meaning womens). That is what is disrespectful here and not me... i'm just putting a check on the bullshit that's all.


      Delete
    5. Thank you 1:26.
      Everyone should check out Frida’s Blog , she has taken on a impossibly huge task which is a service for many, which she obviously has a calling for.

      Delete
    6. Why are you thanking him? For what? I acknowledge your suffering is yours but don't say mine is yours aswells as this woman is doing because then we will have a problem. I'm not the bad guy here read how she frames her argument and separate that from her social work those are two different things and the former doesn't automatically become justified by the latter so think before you jump to opinions.

      Delete
    7. 7:38 looks like women are too much competition for you, are they stealing some business from you?
      This little 5/6 year old girl IS NOT EVEN A WOMAN YET and here you are protesting this report on her case.
      Women need to organize a day stop waiting and hoping for the government me to to give them anything, education or security at any age, or way, the politicians are too busy robbing the budget for social assistance.

      Delete
    8. What the fuck is your problem?What is your point even?
      The story is an innocent little child being raped and murdered,what does that elicit in you?

      Delete
    9. @7:38p.m! She was 4 yrs old.hardly a woman.if you cant defend 4 yr olds then you are hardly a man but probably one of these entitled self absorbed millenial males! Get over yourself!😠

      Delete
    10. Looks like the two snowflakes above me got offended LOL

      Delete
    11. Anyone who uses the word "snowflake" immediately loses all credibility.

      Delete
    12. 738, I'd be equally upset if that happened to any boy, a young boy, a young lady, an innocent adult. After seeing the video of the Viagras posted today, I can see why people get bitter or whatever happens, but please don't forget that girl was a human, and it's horrible when it happens to any innocent being. I maybe see the point you're trying to make, because if a black kid goes missing, everyone says that people ignore it because it's not a white kid. We should all feel horrible when this type of injustice happens to *anyone*, whether they are a girl, man, boy, etc.

      Delete
  2. That was heartbreaking to read.

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    Replies
    1. @7:52PM told you it would bring tears to your eyes.

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    2. Thank you for posting this DD, I know how much work you put into it. The story is very sad, and as horrible as some Hogars are I wonder why she did not end up in one.

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    3. it is a pity that the women in power, in government, in politics, the block captains that carry people to see the sores politicos when they come begging for votes can not organize women's mutual protection or protection for children, because there is a lot of people that usually know about abuses and when abuses increase, but there is no education or direction from people that know better because they got paid anyway.

      Delete
  3. Tears in mx eyes. How can we help?

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    Replies
    1. simple. a pure US military invasion is the only viable option left in that narco death state.

      Delete
    2. Have you seen the results of US Military invasions in iraq, syria, guatemala, afghanistan, yemen, Somalia, ukraine, El salvador, Nicaragua, honduras, east timor, Bangladesh or lately the rohynga of bangladesh, all those people and hundreds of thousands more paid dearly for the US help, with their lives and cities destroyed by bombings "to help them live free and democratically"
      Please, stop "helping Mexico" so much.

      Delete
  4. I would like to know what do they get paid for in the Prosecutor's office to do?If 99% are never prosecuted then what do they spend their time doing?Why is it volunteers need to solve the cases?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now wouldn't you like to see Pablo receiving those injections that put him down for good? Death Penalty?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Los nadies: los hijos de los nadies, los dueños de nada.
    Los nadies: los ningunos, los ninguneados, corriendo la liebre, muriendo la vida, jodidos, rejodidos:
    Que no son, aunque sean.
    Que no hablan idiomas, sino dialectos.
    Que no profesan religiones, sino supersticiones.
    Que no hacen arte, sino artesanía.
    Que no practican cultura, sino folklore.
    Que no son seres humanos, sino recursos humanos.
    Que no tienen cara, sino brazos.
    Que no tienen nombre, sino número.
    Que no figuran en la historia universal, sino en la crónica roja de la prensa local.
    Los nadies, que cuestan menos que la bala que los mata.

    --Eduardo Galeano

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Muchas Gracias, que hermosa, tan verdadero.......

      Delete
    2. Uno mas..."Nochebuena"

      FERNANDO SILVA DIRIGE EL HOSPITAL DE NIÑOS EN MANAGUA.

      EN VÍSPERAS DE NAVIDAD, SE QUEDÓ TRABAJANDO HASTA MUY TARDE. YA ESTABAN SONANDO LOS COHETES, Y EMPEZABAN LOS FUEGOS ARTIFICIALES A ILUMINAR EL CIELO, CUANDO FERNANDO DECIDIÓ MARCHARSE. EN SU CASA LO ESPERABAN PARA FESTEJAR.

      HIZO UNA ÚLTIMA RECORRIDA POR LAS SALAS, VIENDO SI TODO QUEDA EN ORDEN, Y EN ESO ESTABA CUANDO SINTIÓ QUE UNOS PASOS LO SEGUÍAN. UNOS PASOS DE ALGODÓN; SE VOLVIÓ Y DESCUBRIÓ QUE UNO DE LOS ENFERMITOS LE ANDABA ATRÁS. EN LA PENUMBRA LO RECONOCIÓ.

      ERA UN NIÑO QUE ESTABA SOLO. FERNANDO RECONOCIÓ SU CARA YA MARCADA POR LA MUERTE Y ESOS OJOS QUE PEDÍAN DISCULPAS O QUIZÁ PEDÍAN PERMISO.

      FERNANDO SE ACERCÓ Y EL NIÑO LO ROZÓ CON LA MANO:

      -DECILE A... -SUSURRÓ EL NIÑO-
      DECILE A ALGUIEN, QUE YO ESTOY AQUÍ.

      EDUARDO GALEANO... "EL LIBRO DE LOS ABRAZOS"

      Delete
  7. Definitely a travesty. Heartbreaking and sickening to think what transpired. Moreover, the lack of concerns from government officials.
    This dd is a hard one to swallow.
    No child should or anyone go unanswered for.

    Heartbreaking indeed. Would have provided a home for her if have crossed paths.
    Events like this is where I ask God why?

    E42

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. God is too busy trying to reign in Capitalist Jesus.
      The other Jesus of the Theology of Liberation may be in prison somewhere, "better forget him" YouTube.

      Delete
  8. My God, I wish I could have caught that motherfucker BEFORE the rape. Just thinking of what he did makes my blood boil. Can you imagine the poor little girl scared, in pain, suffering while this motherfucker raped her? This is the first time BB has brought me to tears....literally.

    -El Arrepentido de la Sierra

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  9. Fuckin heartbreaking story.How can anyone harm a delicate little flower of a child,there are so many people who would love and cherish a little child such as this but red tape and political correctness exist which can cause so much harm.
    A little child crying out for help and authorities did fucking nothing till it was to late for her.
    Even animals don't behave like this,only fucking humans behave like this..Say her name one time LUPITA

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  10. Implement the Death Penalty for these cowards..

    ReplyDelete
  11. I've never seen so many people attack a story regarding child rape. Sad that our world has come to this. Right, wrong about person reporting story should not discredit the life of an innocent child. All negativity, from both sides, only shows the meaning of life of innocence, man, women or child is hopeless, useless and meaningless. We have dishonored truth and humility. We become no different than the beast that attacks. Their will be no right or wrong winner since all focus has been lost. Sad that she will not be remembered after this since only all cares and focus are about whats written instead of the life that was lost.

    ReplyDelete
  12. DD: THANKS for your efforts. I have to re-read the case when I am calmer and can process the story better. Somehow, the part where Lupita is habituated to finding food in garbage cans really got me.
    I can't say more right now.
    Mexico-Watcher

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Alliance for Progress instituted in Mexico free school luncbes, not much, a little bolillo with beans and a little carton, Started with the youngest kids in grammar schools and kindergarden, but it was replaced with money for murdering communist students and to hire narcos to work drug trafficking for the government, all over LatinAmerica.
      The politics of hunger were chosen over the politics of good will as soon as John F Kennedy got murdered...

      Delete
  13. My point of view it's where were the parents second it would be better if the United State would just invade Mexico to get rid of all this scums they give us Hispanics look bad not all of us are sick I hope that the one or nanny who did this rotten in hell

    ReplyDelete

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