Check out this book if you are interested in true crime. This is a harrowing story of a county terrorized by the drug cartels. There are innocent people disappearing and leaving families devastated. The government turning a deaf ear to their plight.
Miriam Rodriguez is an amazing woman, appearing to have no fear of a drug cartel that terrorized and infiltrated the nation. Miriam’s youngest daughter was kidnapped, ransom was demanded, but she was never returned. A mother on a mission to find out what happened and make those responsible answer for it. Becoming an advocate for the victims of the “disappeared” along her quest, she makes connections to those who have the power to help, and learns how to get what you need from a broken system. There were so many things that shocked me to learn and broke my heart.
“Men vanished from the streets of San Fernando and other towns without so much as a shot fired, their corpses dumped into mass graves etched into the vacant land surrounding the city of San Fernando. A name emerged for the missing, the unaccounted for; they were “the disappeared”, as if their very presence was deleted.”
pg. 58
For the families of the disappeared, they were left completely alone to their grief; terrified they suffered in silence and desperate for a closure that they feared would never come.
“Most people were enduring the bad years in isolated silence, careful not to engage with anyone not already close, especially those touched by cartel violence. There was a fear of a contagion, that by associating with someone who had been targeted you might be exposing yourself to the same.”
pg. 155
If the cartels were not bad enough you would get very little support from the police or the government.
“No one wanted to involve the police. It was like inviting a vampire into your home; you had only yourself to blame for the horrors that followed.”
pg. 35
Who do you turn to in a time when even the police are of little help? Miriam became the person that victims went to for guidance and understanding. Through Miriam’s need to find her daughter, she learned how to work the system and formed real connections.
“Miriam could not stop; as crazy as her reckless quest for justice made her seem to others, it was perhaps the only thing that kept her sane.”
pg. 159
It gave her a mission, take on the Zeta drug cartel. This woman truly seemed to have no fear taking on the most violent cartel in Mexico. With still 98% of homicide unsolved in the country you need someone who will help you find your loved ones.
