Last Wednesday, Marisol Valles Garcia, 20, a mother and a criminology student, became the next police chief of Praxedis, a small town near Juarez, Mexico.
Valles Garcia accepted the dangerous position after the mayor offered it to 19 other more experienced applicants who declined. Her predecessor was killed over a year ago and the town has been searching for a replacement ever since.
Many are calling her naïve, but she is rapidly becoming known as the bravest woman in Mexico.
One of her former professors, Jorge Rojas said, “She’s like a hero right now in that part of Juarez Valley, and she’s an example others can follow.”
Rival gangs, the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels, have been fighting for control over the Juarez Valley and Texas border.
In the last four years, over 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence and just this past year, 2,000 of them have taken place in Juarez, according to an ABC News report. The assistant mayor of nearby El Porvenir and the mayor of Distrito Bravos were also assassinated recently.
And to top it off, Valles Garcia refuses to carry a gun. Instead, she wants to fight the cartels using feminism, prevention and civic values. There is one patrol car and four guns between the whole forces of 13 officers under Valles Garcia. She would like those officers to be unarmed as well.
She is also looking to hire more female officers, suggesting that they build trust within the community. But she hasn’t been specific about how or why this will take place.
Yes — she is definitely a brave young woman. But bravery and stupidity often go hand in hand.
“We don't have much, but we have the will, the heart and the patience to overcome any material deficiencies,” Valles Garica said in a New York Post interview.
As an adolescent myself, I can certainly relate to her feelings of invincibility — of being nine feet tall and bulletproof. But what I fear Valles Garcia fails to recognize is that “heart” and “patience” cannot actually stand up against real firepower. And there is no reason to expect that drug cartels will treat unarmed women any differently than armed men. Many of the townspeople share the same concern.
Juan de Dios Olivas, a reporter in Ciudad Juarez for El Diario said, “Yes, it’s fair to say the townspeople are concerned about her safety. You can feel that people are worried for Marisol.”
They certainly have good reason to be.
Valles Garica says that she wants to focus on, “prevention of crime and improving public safety.” But who is going to improve her safety? Maybe the best solution would have been just that — preventing her from taking the job in the first place.
We may all hope that this foolishness doesn’t end in tragedy. But the current situation in Mexico makes it difficult to realistically believe in anything else.
Regardless, the dedication of this unlikely Mexican hero is unprecedented in Juarez Valley. All we are left to do now is hope that she doesn’t become a martyr.
Contact Danny at djoconn1@asu.edu
