Did we all make it?

By Pamela Cerdeira

The victims of violence have not arrived. The sidewalk narrowed, the resources ran out halfway and, in the distance, they only hear a phrase that is repeated like a mantra until it loses its meaning, as if it were the buyer of old iron; it speaks of rusty promises. "They have all arrived," he repeats, but it is heard far away.

A gun was pointed at Meztli and her daughters' heads. The gun was in the hands of her partner. The first time she came to a shelter was to one operated by the government, in Guerrero. The director threatened the women that she would return them to their attacker. They hunted iguanas and collected green mangoes to eat. She left there denouncing what was happening, but nothing changed. She was afraid of falling back into the same place, but now she had better luck: she arrived at a shelter operated by civil society. After eight months, in which she received psychological counseling, food, education, food and a private room to share with her daughters, she is now smiling. She now rents a place and is confident that she will be able to move forward. She no longer "needs" to go back to her aggressor.

In López Obrador's administration, the role of the shelters was questioned. Distrustful of anything that smacked of civil society, he threatened to eliminate the resources with which they operate. Pressure or perhaps luck averted disaster, but the neglect was noticeable in a budget that did nothing but shrink. The State guarantees women a life free of violence, but hopefully they are lucky to apply for it only after May, because from January to March they don't get money to operate. Don't let them try to kill you in February, because you will be at the mercy of the superhuman efforts these places make to be able to operate.

Have conditions changed, and is a woman president more sensitive to these needs? No. At least not yet. The guidelines used to be published in December so that in January the shelters could submit all the necessary documents to obtain the resources from the federal government; they had one month. This time, the guidelines came out on February 28 without including dates for the presentation of projects. Instead, yesterday the call for proposals was published with the bases for the presentation of the projects. They have two days to comply with the requirements. Two.