Police officer promoted after act of kindness in Acapulco

A Mexico City police officer who breastfed a hungry baby in the aftermath of Hurricane Otis has been promoted.

Arizbeth Dionisio Ambrosio was deployed to Acapulco after the Category 5 storm made landfall on Oct. 25 and nursed a four-month-old baby boy while on duty in the devastated resort city.

The infant hadn’t eaten for a prolonged period and was crying from hunger when the 33-year-old police officer spoke to his mother, who was unable to breastfeed her son herself, and offered to nurse him.

Dionisio, a mother of a one-year-old, was promoted earlier this week in recognition of her act of compassion, her rank upgraded to “suboficial” from “policía primero.”

“For her vocation of service to citizens and for exalting the name of the Mexico City Ministry of Citizens Security, my colleague Arizbeth Dionisio Ambrosio of the Zorros group, who protected the life of a baby in Acapulco, was promoted,” Mexico City Security Minister Pablo Vázquez Camacho said on the X social media site on Monday. 

“Her work is an example of humanism for everyone,” he added.

Following her promotion, Dionisio said that she was happy that she was able to help the baby and his mother in their hour of need. She downplayed her act of kindness, portraying it as insignificant amid the enormity of the devastation caused by Otis.

“I did very little, we can help more,” Dionisio said. “If I could, I’d return … to see the baby.”

The policewoman previously told reporters that it felt “nice” to help a crying, hungry baby.

“If something pains us as mothers it’s … [seeing] a baby in these circumstances,” she said.

With reports from Expansión, BBC and El Universal