Breathe
By Sandra Romandía
I once cried inside a prison. It was in the state of Mexico, in Chiconautla, when I turned around after saying goodbye to my interviewee, Humbertus Perez. He, a social fighter against the real estate companies that built millions of defective houses for the social interest segment, was in prison. He, who had denounced the then mayor of Tecámac, Aarón Urbina Bedolla, for having acted in collusion with these companies that abused the needs of the people. He, who pointed directly to Eruviel Avila -at that time, governor- for protecting the mayor who was persecuting him. He, who spent 4 years of his life behind bars for a crime he did not commit and finally came out with a "you are innocent", which confirmed the revenge of which he was a victim.
On that prison visit, back in 2017, he told me how he cried out in rage and grief over his mother's death, as Humbertus was denied the right he had to leave for the funeral. I saw him pale, thinner, with some nervous tics that he did not have before (I had followed his struggle from years before). I felt extremely indignant, wondering how it was possible for the PRI to maintain such authoritarian, anti-democratic practices, making its people suffer, and how its people continued to vote for candidates emanating from that party.
