Victims of the War on Drugs: Forgotten, helpless, deserted

By Franz Smets Feb 1, 2012, 2:06 GMT

Mexico City - The War on Drugs has affected thousands of Mexicans who have lost family members to murder or abduction, or have been killed as innocent bystanders in cross-fire between the gangs and the security forces.

Even if they have escaped physically unhurt, many have suffered psychological trauma that has left them severely scarred.

Late last year, President Felipe Calderon set up a new agency, the Special Prosecutor's Office to Assist the Victims of Crime, or Provictima, to assist the victims.

Within days, the new body headed by a woman had been given a building to use in the Mexican capital and a hotline for callers to use.

Since Calderon declared war on the burgeoning drug lords and drug trade when he took office in 2006, more than 45,000 deaths have been attributed to his all-out push against the crime in his country. Sitting just south of the United States, which has become the world's largest consumer of illegal drugs, his country has become the nexus of Latin American drug production and trade.

At the ceremonial opening of the victims' centre, Calderon told the media that the institution would provide 'medical, psychological and social emergency aid.'

This is a huge task, given that there are 3,000 victims of the violence in the state of Nuevo Leon alone, all currently undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress, just in the state-run institutions.

Help of this kind is likely to remain beyond the reach of most of the victims, many of whom feel themselves not merely neglected but actually subject to discrimination.

Edgar Avena, a 27-year-old family man, described the difficulties in gaining access to help in the El Universal daily.

He found himself in the firing line in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa state, when a 'narco' opened fire with his automatic weapon.

Despite diving behind a car to seek cover, he was hit in the left leg. What followed was a medical and bureaucratic nightmare.

The hospital he was taken to was not able to carry out the operation he needed, as the sole capable surgeon was on holiday.

His family paid for him to be treated by a private specialist, while the state hospital generously made an operating theatre available.

'Once I was stabilized, they took me to another hospital, but the infection was not under control and they had to amputate my leg above the knee,' Avena said.

Coping with life using just one leg was something he had to teach himself.

'There are no places in Mexico for amputees to receive assistance,' Avena said, adding that he was using the internet to access information on how to cope.

'I read a lot and prayed a lot, and I have finally overcome the phantom pain.'

Jorge Sandoval from the state of Michoacan, just 11 years old, is another victim of the war. While playing outside at the house of a friend he found a green ball.

'I found it in the grass. It was green and I liked it,' Jorge told the journalist Elly Castillo.

'Then I tried to rub it on the ground to get rid of the wire, and it blew up.'

Jorge lost his right hand when the hand grenade exploded and suffered injuries to one of his legs. Doctors fear he is likely to lose the sight in one of his eyes as well.

Calderon met members of the peace movement set up by the poet Javier Sicilia, who repeated their criticism of the government's security and crime-fighting policies.

They highlighted continuing violations of human rights by the security forces, along with corruption, widespread impunity and ongoing neglect of the victims.

'I do not feel resentment,' Avena says. 'I would simply like to say to President Calderon that combating crime is not a bad plan, and I hope that it works.

'But he must also help the victims.'