Over the years, the Mexican government has adopted increasingly heavy prison sentences and militarized drug policies to confront drug trafficking. The result has been an increase of vulnerable populations in Mexico’s prisons, but no impact on the drug trade or violence.
In this video, Rosa Julia Leyva Martinez tells the story of how one day in 1993, she decided to travel from her home state of Guerrero to Mexico City. According to her testimony, a few people she knew from her town convinced her to travel with them, and without her knowledge, had her carry a bag with heroin inside through airport security. She says that she was tortured into signing a confession and as a result spent close to 11 years in prison.
Stories like Rosa’s are all too common in Mexico, as Senior Associate Maureen Meyer points out in a 2013 CNN op-ed. Please click here to view the article.
CREDITS:
Direction: Kristel Mucino
Editing and Material Coordination: Juan Luis Velazquez
Research and Interview: Ana Paula Hernández
Special thanks to Rosa Julia Leyva
