A teenager had his fingers cut off for refusing to sell drugs in Acapulco, Guerrero, an incident that triggered the northward flight of another family to flee violence.
The 16-year-old’s index fingers were removed on both hands with a machete for refusing to be recruited by a gang.
The victim recounted the moment that gangsters confronted him. “I went to my cousin’s 15th birthday party and I was going home in a taxi, and another taxi came and they kidnapped me. They put a gun on me because I didn’t want to get in the car,” he said.
“They … beat me and they took me out [of the vehicle] to cut off my fingers,” he added.
The attackers showed a practiced technique to mutilate his fingers. “They put a board [under my hands] and struck my fingers with a machete. Also, they beat me with a board on my back …”
It was hoped that the fingers could be reconnected to the teenager’s hands, but they couldn’t be found.
His father, a builder, said his son’s treatment cost about 10,000 pesos (US $477).
The teenager and his parents are now in a shelter in Tijuana, after fleeing due to threats that the teen would be decapitated and the whole family would be killed.
Like many other families, particularly from Michoacán, they hope to relocate to the United States to flee violence in Mexico.
“Fue un corte con un machete, me pusieron una tabla y le pegaron a los dedos”, este fue el castigo de un joven de 16 años por resistirse a vender droga en #Acapulco. Él y su familia huyeron, ahora permanecen en un albergue de #Tijuana con la esperanza de poder cruzar a EU. pic.twitter.com/ZMhhfFU61G
— Ciro Gómez Leyva (@CiroGomezL) December 14, 2021
With reports from El Universal
