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Love letter to Uvalde

2022-05-27T19:48:30.371Z


All the inhabitants had a relationship with those who died, the impact of the massacre reverberates in each house, in each street and in all those who love the city


I often travel to the border between Coahuila and Texas, a territory with codes understandable only to those who live there, black and white visions reduce the problem to migration and drug trafficking and lose sight of a complex relationship.

Both countries influence each other on multiple issues: culture, art, language, economics, politics, education, sports, real estate, commerce, work and, of course, friendship and romance.

I love this border, I am permanently seduced by the warmth of its people and the beauty of the landscape, its cities and towns I carry in my heart.

On the Mexican side, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Zaragoza, Morelos, Allende, Villa Unión, Guerrero, Nava.

On the American side, Del Río, Eagle Pass and Uvalde.

I have friends and loved ones in these places, which is why what happened in Uvalde has hurt me so much.

Uvalde is a small town.

In recent years, given its proximity to San Antonio and Austin, due to its more or less mild climate and because it is on the way to one of the most visited national parks in the United States, Big Bend National Park, a

boom has exploded.

in the real estate market, especially ranches.

The area is crossed by several streams and rivers, which provides land for raising cattle and has abundant wildlife, which attracts hunters from all over the country.

This has triggered rapid economic growth, particularly in the area of ​​services, and has significantly increased labor demand.

Uvalde became a magnet for illegal workers.

They settled there, their children were born there and a hybrid framework was created where Spanish and English are spoken indistinctly.

Most of the residents of Uvalde are Mexican-American, some of them Texans from generations ago.

They are not only employees, as some reductionist views would like to make it appear, they hold positions of power.

It is enough to see the surnames of Latin origin in popular representatives,

sheriffs

, owners of real estate agencies, hotel and restaurant owners, to verify it.

They actively interact with Anglo settlers in an intricate fabric called Texan identity.

It would be naive to rule out racism and racial segregation in this area, there is certainly a tension, but not enough to break social harmony or create obstacles to the political or economic advancement of those with Mexican roots.

The massacre is doubly painful for being carried out in a vulnerable area: a primary school.

The victims are not only the dead children, but also the terrified companions who will be scarred for life by the incident and will forever mark the history of Uvalde.

The massacre opens the debate on the sale of weapons in a county where the hunting industry is of vital economic and social importance, and for the state of Texas, which considers itself fiercely independent and sees in each armed citizen a combatant willing to defend freedom from the tyranny of an authoritarian government.

Most of the inhabitants of Uvalde, despite the massacre, will oppose the regulation of arms sales.

They consider that the prohibition of rifles for military use, such as the AR 15 used by the murderer,

To largely prevent these mass murders, facilitated by the shooting capacity and lethality of the bullets, it will be necessary to regulate the sale of military rifles, which, importantly, are not used for hunting.

To achieve this, it is necessary to remove from the minds of gun advocates that there will be a domino effect that will eventually lead to a total ban.

Demonstrating sanity to obtain one of these weapons is, in my opinion, the only way to solve this problem.

American politicians often mention the case of Mexico, where there is tight control over arms sales, but which has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

His argument: the common citizen cannot defend himself, while criminals and assassins kill unarmed people at close range.

Regulation, they conclude, is absolutely useless.

While this is being resolved, a city watches over its dead children.

In one way or another, all the inhabitants of Uvalde had a relationship with those who died.

The impact of the massacre reverberates in every house, in every street and in all of us who love that city.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-05-27

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