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Marisol Valles García: Your Inspiration for Today

frau sally benz

Violence and terror have been the norm in the towns near Juarez, Mexico for quite some time now. Public officials have been harassed, threatened, and killed, so people aren’t all too eager to step up to the plate.

Except Marisol Valles García.

She’s 20 years old, she’s a student, and she’s the new police chief in Guadalupe, (ETA) near the Texas border, the very same town where the former mayor was assassinated just this past summer.

Her attitude in taking this job is absolutely refreshing:

Afraid? Everyone is afraid and it’s very natural. What motivates me here is that the project [to make the community safer] is very good and can do a lot for my town.

The weapons we have are principles and values, which are the best weapons for prevention.

The job was pretty much a guarantee after nobody else applied. Here’s how she plans on getting things done:

My people are out there going door to door, looking for criminals, and (in homes) where there are none, trying to teach values to the families.

It’s going to be hard work, and I really hope she’ll stay safe. I don’t pray, but she’s definitely going to be in my thoughts.

20 thoughts on Marisol Valles García: Your Inspiration for Today

  3. Doesn’t surprise me, after some of the twenty-year-old women I’ve met. But no less fabulous and I hope she gets the support she needs.

  4. Bitter Scribe, I wouldn’t call that a nitpick. :p

    As for Garcia, I’m mad concerned for her. I’ve seen a bit of speculation that, at best, she’s setting herself up to be a martyr (intentionally or unintentionally.) Having someone this young and brave get murdered might galvanize people to action but the outlook for her as an individual is really worrisome.

  5. Try to do good instead of fighting against bad. You support what you focus on. She is a smart and brave woman. Trying to help people is the best thing to do. I hope she will get a lot of support, people out there take this as an example and help supporting this wonderful women!

  6. The criminal element has grown so strong that no adult, law-enforcement-oriented candidates will take on the job. I am sure this young woman means well, but she has essentially said that doing the job as it is would be suicide and nobody can do it, so instead she is going to do some feel-good stuff that won’t get in the way of the drug cartels, so that they won’t kill her.

    That’s not inspirational. Grab a silver lining from the cloud if you can, but this is an instance of children playacting out of fear that taking on an adult role will result in their death.

  7. Well, for starters, a 20-year-old isn’t a child. And I do find it inspirational when somebody, regardless of age, decides to take a stand and show that even though something is dangerous, you have to do what’s right. The situation there is dire, but unless they all decide to up and move and build some enclosed structure over the drug lords (which is impossible anyway), then they still have to live there and they still have to try to take control back.

  8. because all twenty year olds who step up and try to do something are just kids who are playacting to find a silver lining to a very dim cloud

  9. frau sally benz: Well, for starters, a 20-year-old isn’t a child. And I do find it inspirational when somebody, regardless of age, decides to take a stand and show that even though something is dangerous, you have to do what’s right.

    The police and city government are not the real government there anymore, whichever cartel owns that area – Juarez Cartel, I think it is – is the real government. So this is a very principled stand. She is tempting martyrdom. That kind of foolhardiness or bravery or high-mindedness is very much part of being that age. Just suriving will be a big accomplishment and she is the likeliest person to pull it off, just by virtue of who she is. Killing the previous mayor was busienss as usual, but killing a 20 year old woman will be a pretty embarrassing blunder for that cartel .

    This part struck me:
    ” My people are out there going door to door, looking for criminals, and (in homes) where there are none, trying to teach values to the families.’

    She seems to think the people themsleves are the key to all this. I would have thought they were busy just keeping their heads down. But she knows her community and I never will, so I’ll take her word for it.

  11. This is damn encouraging, in the face of that level of adversity that anyone would risk in order to attempt to change the conditions there. That she’s 20 is beside the point entirely. Nobody else wants the job and she’s courageous enough to do so. It may be a bleak proposition, but then, not doing anything while living in and around these circumstances might have garnered similar peril.

  12. She seems to think the people themsleves are the key to all this. I would have thought they were busy just keeping their heads down. But she knows her community and I never will, so I’ll take her word for it.

    Mexican culture is very family centric. Children do not move far from their parents even after they have married and started having children of their own. This may be the best way to combat the drug cartel from that side of the border. Having families stand up for their own homes may do a world of good and actually manage to bring about some peace to the area

  13. Random Process: The criminal element has grown so strong that no adult, law-enforcement-oriented candidates will take on the job. I am sure this young woman means well, but she has essentially said that doing the job as it is would be suicide and nobody can do it, so instead she is going to do some feel-good stuff that won’t get in the way of the drug cartels, so that they won’t kill her.That’s not inspirational. Grab a silver lining from the cloud if you can, but this is an instance of children playacting out of fear that taking on an adult role will result in their death.  

    Wow. Just wow. What a piece of work this comment is. I want to capture and hold it forever as one of the most astonishing examples of ageism I’ve ever seen.

    I wish Ms. García luck, and I pray for her safety and the safety of her community.

  14. Ageism: thinking a 20-year old doesn’t have the life experience and background to go up against criminal cartels run by people who have spent decades honing their skills.

    Also known as “reality”.

    Look, she’s obviously a pretty special person. She’s brave for doing what she’s doing. I wish her luck and hope they don’t kill her.

    But when you see kittens going off to fight rottweilers, the appropriate reaction is not awe at how brave and cool the kittens are, even if the kittens are awesomely brave and cool. The appropriate reaction is to ask why the fuck there are all these rottweilers loose.

  15. I`m a young mexican, and find this an aberration, so a inexperienced young girl is supposed to stop brutal drug cartels? without experience, without a clear strategy, and certainly without secrecy. Just hope her family doesn`t take the worst of it. Really.

  16. Sabrina, I hope you are right but i suspect Omar is. This is a good way to get her whole family wiped out. It wasn’t so long ago that one of these organizations rolled the head of a Mexican Army division commander through the front gate of his headquarters compound.

  17. It truly is incredible what Valles Garcia is doing, by chance does anyone know how I would go about contacting her? We run a program in Chicago that implements the same notion of taking back the community and we would love to send her some support.

  18. @Cris – I suppose you can send a letter to the town hall of the town Praxedis Guerrero to the attention of Mrs. Marsol Valles??

  19. I think it’s awesome what Marisol is doing! The same approach has proven successful in many other parts of the world – look at what happened in Columbia when the Chief of Police there had all his police officers to hand out a booklet, that taught personal values and integrity, all over the place. The crime rate plumeted! … I’d like to know what booklet that was! Maybe she could use this in her area.

  20. why is there no mention made of the fact that she has only 13 police under her command in a city of well over 8,000 ?

    would it be ageist or just anti-idealistic to say that cartels are not going to be harmed by principles and values ?

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