In the middle of the long line is Hipólito Vásquez leaning on a gate and with a transparent bag in his hands: he is carrying gins, toilet paper, bath and dish soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, sanitary and bath towels, clothes and a blanket. The 73-year-old man awaits his turn to enter the women's prison in Ilopango. The few things he managed to buy are for his daughter Ana Vásquez, who was captured on April 26, under the Exception Regime.
On May 5, while waiting, Hipólito told
GatoEncerrado that he left his home in San Isidro, Panchimalco, south of San Salvador, at 4 in the morning, to arrive early to buy the package with some products for personal use - which costs from $40 and up to almost $100 with the mat-.
She reported that her daughter is 26 years old and is the mother of a 5-year-old boy. That Tuesday, April 26, Ana went out with her son to buy food at a store that is a block from the house. When she returned home, she found some patrol cars and the agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) asked her to stop to ask her a couple of questions. After her, the police asked her for the DUI (Unique Identity Document), but she did not carry it; so, they told her to get in the car with her son. Upon arriving at the house, they took the child down and told him to take the DUI out of it and then, without reason or explanation, they took her into custody.
Hipólito assured that he tried to explain to them that his daughter is not involved in gangs, but the police officers ignored him.
Since then, he and his 66-year-old wife have taken responsibility for caring for their grandson, as the boy's father has passed away. Hipólito is a farmer and said that his daughter was the breadwinner for the family by selling tortillas.
Ana's capture not only causes sadness and complicates her economic situation, but also represents the separation of a child from his mother, something that has consequences for mental health, a psychologist and a lawyer explained to
GatoEncerrado . "The child cries for his mother, he despairs," said Hipólito.
psychological impacts
The psychologist Ingrid Merino said that boys and girls go through a grieving process after the separation of their parents and, depending on how the family accompaniment is, they can develop depressive disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress or acute stress disorder.
According to the specialist, the fact that a child witnesses the capture of his mother or father can trigger a traumatic event and cause regression in his development. “Children who were no longer taking pacha can return to that behavior and even more childish behaviors and more intense tantrums. There may also be problems sleeping, which children generally express with anger or may be absent, ”explained the specialist to
GatoEncerrado.
Merino assured that in children from 0 to 7 years there is a greater impact when the mother is captured, "because there is a significant attachment." "From 7 years onwards it does affect, obviously, but it does not generate the same impact as in previous years, because there is not a complete dependence on the mother figure," she said.
The psychologist explained that when parents separate, children must face another routine and eating habits. “Children often have to move from their house, they stop being in a place that they call their own, which for many children is their safe place, even if it is a little house made of sheets. In addition, their eating habits change, because they have to adapt to the new family rules, ”she said.
Boys or girls can also develop feelings of sadness, abandonment, frustration and even feel a burden for the family members who remain responsible. “There could be a greater tendency to suicidal ideas or attempts when feeling that their life has no meaning, probably due to receiving abuse in this other family environment where, apart from the fact that they have to be cared for, they have to be maintained and there is no patience to understand the reactions emotional that they are going to have ”, maintained Merino.
Children's rights are being violated
Despite the existence of the Law for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents (Lepina), which aims to guarantee full compliance with rights such as: the right to life, health, social security and the environment, rights to development and rights of participation, since the approval of the Exception Regime, many of these rights are being violated.
Zaira Navas, lawyer and legal head of
Cristosal , said that during the Exception Regime children have been affected from different aspects and there is a clear violation of their human rights. According to Navas, many of the children who have seen their parents or relatives arrested, in some cases violently, are presenting enuresis, which is incontinence or lack of control of urine.
Navas said that children who live in places with a high crime rate are no longer only exposed to being victims of threats and beatings by gang members, but also to abuse, psychological and even physical violence by PNC agents and soldiers. "We have registered at least two cases in which children were beaten when they were taken away from their relatives," said the lawyer.
GatoEncerrado tried to contact on more than one occasion the National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONNA), which is the institution in charge of ensuring the rights of children and adolescents, to learn about the actions they are taking to protect the rights of adolescents. helpless minors after the arrests of parents or caregivers; however, the people who attended assured that they were not authorized to respond. They provided the telephone number of the head of the CONNA communications area, but he did not give an answer either.
Hipólito assured that the capture of his daughter is a "nightmare". He said that in an attempt to obtain Ana's release, he submitted to the Attorney General's Office (PGR) documents such as her property deed, birth certificate of his daughter and grandson, death certificate of the son-in-law of she; however, they told him that his daughter will not be released from prison. All these documents, according to
a PGR lawyer , are not even reviewed by the judges in the initial hearings.
For the moment, Hipólito has hope in what his neighbors have told him: “don't worry about the child, we are going to help him”.
