Breathe
By Sofia Guadarrama
Today you will be called Lidia. It doesn't matter if you are a man or a woman. Your name is Lidia. It is the morning of Saturday, October 12. Like every day, you prepare breakfast for your granddaughter Lidia, who is named after you. Your beautiful little girl. Always so loving, smiling, curious and full of life. It's amazing how fast time goes by. The little girl is already 8 years old. It seems like yesterday when you held her for the first time in the hospital. Your newborn granddaughter brought a couple of tears of joy to your eyes and soon became the light of your eyes.
As you do every day, you brush her hair and braid it while she tells you that the miss let them do a presentation on race day for homework. You try to remember what you learned in school all those years ago.
-Christopher Columbus discovered America in a thousand..." You pause, trying to remember.
-In 1492 -adds your granddaughter and smiles proud of her knowledge.
-Yes," you say as you put some bows in her hair.
-I'm going to need a poster board," he reports.
-Yes, my life; in the afternoon we are going to get it," you answer.
Lidia asks your permission to play for a while. She has always been very polite. She loves to play with friends, attend music and dance classes, read children's and adventure books, do arts and crafts, draw, paint, play with play dough, go for walks in parks, zoos and outdoor activities.
Unfortunately, outdoor activities and games are not allowed. Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, is becoming more dangerous every day.
-But, Grandma, we're just going to play here on the bench," she has answered you countless times, eager to convince you.
-No," you answered flatly, "If they want to play, they can play here in the house. The yard is big enough for them to run around.
Although non-conforming, Lidia Iris always obeys. She is a very obedient child. She spends half the day in her bedroom playing and watching TV. Later, aunts, uncles, cousins and cousins arrive for lunch and the day goes by like water through their fingers.
At 6:45 in the evening, when everyone has left, you take your granddaughter to the stationery store in Fraccionamiento Palmares... But on the way, at about 7:00 p.m., there is a car accident and your car is pinned between two pickup trucks. As if that wasn't enough, National Guard elements approach the collided cars and start shooting at you. Yes, at your car! Where your granddaughter Lidia Iris is, crouched in the front seat. She is trying to shield herself from the bullets fired by the National Guard.
-Oh, Lidia! Lidia! -you cry out in terror.
You rush to protect her, but you cannot. You approach her, you hug her, you talk to her, you shake her, in your hands you feel the blood dripping from her head. Lidia Iris does not respond. You feel that your life is ending in a breath, that the light of your life is extinguished. "Oh, Lidia. Lidia. My child." You hear voices in the distance. Sirens. Screams. You lose track of time and space.
-Galván Reséndez," you suddenly whisper as if coming out of hypnosis.
-What is your full name? -a voice asks you. You don't know who it is. You don't know where you are. You don't know what the hell is going on. You don't know anything in this damn instant when your granddaughter doesn't respond to you. She doesn't react. "My child, hold on!"
-What is your full name? -insists the voice.
-Lidia Galván Reséndez.
-What is the girl's full name?
-Lidia Iris Fuentes Galván.
-Where are they taking my granddaughter? -you ask in horror.
-You will be rushed to a hospital.
-Lidia Iris died from a gunshot to the head," a voice will inform you later. You won't remember who. Well, all you can think about is how much you and your granddaughter missed out on living. They missed so much life. Life to play on the beach. Life to walk through a forest. Life to teach her so many things. Life to bake so many cakes. Life to see her grow up. Life to see her become a young lady and tell you about her first boyfriend and her first love. Life to see her at her college graduation. Life to see her become a mom. Life to meet your great-grandchildren. Life to die first. Because according to the rule of life, children and grandchildren should not die first.
Later you will be informed that in one of the vans that crashed into your vehicle, an 18 year old man named Diego Alfredo was kidnapped and also died from bullet wounds.
The next day you learn that army soldiers also shot at a private van in which Yuricie Rivera was traveling with her husband and son. And that Yuricie died just like your granddaughter, instantly from a gunshot to the head.
You will think: "Once again, the authorities of this country failed us".
But you are not Lidia Galván Reséndez, nor did you have a granddaughter named Lidia Iris Fuentes Galván. You will not have to deal with the authorities to demand justice, nor will you have to go before the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Commission, nor will you have to march with relatives of victims to make this government do what it is obligated to do.
You are not Lidia and you don't have to suffer this torment. You don't even have to worry. In this country what abounds is indifference. For many, nothing happens in this country... until it happens to them.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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