El Gato

WHO IS EL GATO?

EL GATO IS MOVED FOR GOOD AND FOR BAD BY THINGS IN HIS PAST… WILL THE GOOD WIN? WHEN HE SETS OUT WITH COYOTA ON THE TRIP SOUTH, HE COULD LITTLE IMAGINE WHAT THE CHILD WILL COME TO MEAN FOR HIM.

El Gato

Risks it all for love.

TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVES

TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVES

I love socializing, getting together with good friends, drawing in the wonderful energy that comes with belly laughs, sharing food and drinks, exchanging ideas about the world, chatting about relationships, discussing the weather, sharing gripes about common ailments, even having a good gossip on occasion.

I love going off completely alone, to a place of complete silence to make up stories, plots, dramatic knots, good and evil characters, changing landscapes, life and death conflicts, writing, writing, and then re-writing over and over again, till every ounce of energy in my brain is depleted, and my being is empty of thought.

My two loves cannot be shared.  As time passes, I realize I don´t have an endless supply of energy.  And while ideas from one love can nourish the other, its energy can´t be transferred.  It´s the opposite. One seems to preclude the other, suck out that energy for its own personal use. 

Can it be like having two simultaneous real-life lovers?  Don’t know. Some people manage to balance two loves at the same time. Make time for both, love both differently but equally, have one nourish the other. 

That doesn´t work for me. My two loves dislike and are jealous of each other.  When one takes over the other clamors for the same kind of attention. The cycle repeats itself endlessly.

Anyone willing to share thoughts about this?

WHO IS FRANK?

Who is Frank?

The protagonist of the novel “Yoali,” Frank will do all he can to help the woman he loves to find her stolen child.  As the plot moves forward, Frank grows from an indecisive young man to a powerful mover of dramatic events in his own life and of those around him.

Frank.

The policeman who loves Yoali.

Who is Guayo?

Does evil exist?  Can a human being be so evil that he or she cannot be redeemed?  When you read my novel "Yoali" you might find out when you meet Guayo, a trafficker who seems to have no heart. 

WHO IS LA COYOTE?

Can the power of love turn a bad character good?   La Coyote makes a living by trafficking people across the border. Then, one evil act becomes too much, even for her. And something too marvelous to pass up enters her life. 

Strong and passionate, a hard exterior hiding a tender heart, “Coye” is one of those characters that tries to steal the story. Does she succeed?  To find out you´ll have to wait to read my novel, “Sacrifice on the Border” or you can also visit the Sacrifice on the Border Facebook page. 

SPACE FOR WRITING

SPACE FOR WRITING

The house is dark. 

Outside the window, frogs are singing.  First one comes out with a solo, and then others pick up and turn into a chorus.   Inside, everyone is sleeping.  Maybe some are dreaming.  No phone rings.  I hear no footsteps in the hallway.

I´m finally alone with my thoughts, and in the almost total silence, it seems that the perfect hour for writing has arrived.

I´m tired though.  It might have been easier to write during the day… though impossible with all my procrastination.  That cup of coffee I felt was essential if I was to concentrate, replying to my sister´s urgent email, and the one time I just had to take a turn in the garden if I was to be inspired.

I recall I have no door. As Virginia Woolf said, without a door between you and the world, there can be no inspiration.  With no wood or other tangible barrier there is no way to protect yourself from people who need to “ask you just one question”.    They just don´t know that a one second interruption can destroy whole worlds.

Of all doors though, the inner door is the most important.

I´m talking about the barrier you need to set up between your creative soul and the critical being who lives within you. The creature who tries to sweep away twisted plots because they´re too time consuming, or strong characters because they tend to run away with your story, or crazy new ideas because they really scare people off.

Horrifying Abuse by Border Officers (article)

Woman's Lawsuit Alleges Horrifying Abuse By Border Officers, Including Cavity Searches And Forced Bowel Movements

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/border-cavity-search_n_4907225.html?ncid=webmail6

Customs and Border Protection and a Texas hospital allegedly subjected a woman to repeated anal and vaginal cavity searches over a period of six hours without her consent and without a warrant, leaving her traumatized, according to a lawsuit filed in December. The hospital then allegedly sent the woman a bill for more than $5,000 after she refused to sign a consent form.

The civil lawsuit against CBP and the University Medical Center of El Paso, where some of the cavity searches were performed, raises questions about what legal protections are available to people when crossing an increasingly militarized border.

"Whether or not this reflects a pattern of practice [at CBP] is not yet clear," the woman's attorney, Laura Schauer Ives, told The Huffington Post. "But that the agents felt emboldened to do this, I think, is telling."

According to the complaint, which received renewed attention this past weekend after being featured on the public radio show "On the Media," the plaintiff is a 54-year-old woman from New Mexico who traveled to Ciudad Juárez in December 2012 to visit a close family friend who had been deported. The plaintiff, a U.S. citizen, asked the court to proceed anonymously due to the "highly personal and sensitive nature of the events."

When the woman returned to the United States through the port of entry at El Paso, Texas, border officials randomly selected her for further screening, the lawsuit says. While she was in line, a drug dog lunged at her, leading authorities to believe she was carrying drugs.

They then began a series of invasive cavity searches, the suit alleges. When those exams revealed nothing, authorities sent the plaintiff, referred to in the suit as "Jane Doe," to the University Medical Center of El Paso for more.

According to the complaint in the civil lawsuit:

Over the course of the next six hours, Defendants subjected Ms. Doe to a series of highly invasive searches, any one of which would have been humiliating and demeaning. First, government agents stripped searched [sic] Ms. Doe and made a visual and manual inspection of her genitals and anus. Finding nothing, Defendants next subjected her to an observed bowel movement. When that procedure yielded no evidence of drugs, Defendants X-rayed Ms. Doe. Having found nothing, Defendants next shackled Ms. Doe to an examining table and inserted a speculum into her vagina, performed a rectal exam on her, and conducted a bimanual cavity search of her vagina. Still not satisfied, Defendants subjected Ms. Doe to a CT scan and again found no evidence of drugs.

Though Defendants conducted these searches against the will of Ms. Doe and without her consent, the Medical Center billed Ms. Doe more than $5,000.00 for its "services."

CBP said it does not comment on pending litigation, but forwarded a statement saying the organization does not tolerate abuse and would cooperate with investigations into allegations of misconduct.

"CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe," the statement says.

The lawsuit describes the woman's alleged mistreatment at the hands of authorities at the border and the hospital as a form of sexual abuse.

"Her labia, vaginal opening, and anus were left raw and sore and she felt violated, demeaned and powerless as a result of the searches," the complaint says. "Since her ordeal, Ms. Doe has not been able to be physically intimate with her husband. When she is in public, she feels as if everyone is staring at her, so she avoids public spaces and stays at home whenever possible. She still cries when she thinks about this incident."

The University Medical Center of El Paso announced in January that it had voted to hire third-party experts to review the hospital's policies on searches.

"The El Paso community should know that UMC has no agreement with Customs and Border Protection or any other law enforcement agency to conduct searches of people in their custody, nor are we in any way an extension of Customs and Border Protection," said Margaret Althoff-Olivas, the center's director of public affairs.

The case was first reported by local media shortly after it was filed in December.

The University Medical Center waived the hospital bill after the lawsuit was filed, according to the plaintiff's attorney. Schauer Ives said she hoped the lawsuit would keep others from having to go through similar experiences.

"This is an instance where securing the border has become an excuse for abandoning constitutional principles," Schauer Ives said. "The Constitution doesn't permit these kinds of multiple invasive searches on the mere suspicion of drug trafficking."

WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?

WHERE DO IDEAS COME FROM?

It’s a mystery.  I can honestly say I don´t have a clue.  The idea for my novel came up overnight.  I was having a dream and a voice channeled through my brain speaking in the first person.  I don´t remember the words, but I realized it was a young girl and she was talking about her child being stolen.  Without knowing where this was going, I started typing whatever came into my head.

 It was a story! 

For nights and nights, after working an eight-hour or even a ten-hour day at my official job, I sat up in bed after midnight and clacked away at the plot.  My snoring husband beside me, bless his soul, didn´t complain… actually seemed to be soundly asleep. It was only several months, and many chapters later that I overheard him tell a dinner guest that my noisy fingers on the keyboard were giving him insomnia! And I thought I was the insomniac! 

The writing honeymoon soon came to an end.  As the plot got more twisted I had to begin to rereading what I had written the day before, and make brief outlines for what came ahead.

However, my plans were often foiled. My characters had a mind of their own.  Others turned up out of the blue.  All took me along unfamiliar roads. Once on a new path, though I often enjoyed the scenery.  At times I felt I was reading someone else´s story.  I was surprised by the unexpected plots and characters, but never annoyed by them.

The final chapter was the most surprising.  I had no idea the novel would end that way.  But when I had finished writing it, I liked it! 

I hope you will like it too!

MEXICAN CHILDREN SOLD FOR THEIR ORGANS

This is the terrible fate that awaits Elisito, Yoali's toddler if he is not rescued.  The novel's plot is tame compared to what is really happening.  In this article from March 18, 2014, we learn that a group of school children who had been kidnapped and were being taken to a secret operating room were rescued in time.  If they had not been found in time, their organs would have been removed and sold to the highest bidder.

Child Organ Harvesting And Trafficking-Linked Arrest Made In Mexico

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/child-organ-harvesting_n_4982854.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Police in Mexico's western state of Michoacan detained an alleged member of the Knights Templar cartel who is suspected of kidnapping children to harvest their organs, an official said Monday.

Michoacan state Public Safety Secretary Carlos Castellanos Becerra alleged that Manuel Plancarte Gaspar was part of the cartel's organ-trafficking ring. The ring would kidnap children and take them to rented homes with medical equipment where their organs were removed, Castellanos Becerra charged.

"We have several statements in open investigations that point to a network of several suspects who would identify people with certain characteristics, especially children, and kidnap them," he said.

Castellanos Becerra said the cases go back several years, but he said he couldn't give any specific details or discuss evidence because the investigation is still open.

Plancarte Gaspar, 34, was detained last week along with another suspect in a stolen car. The men also had some crystal meth, Castellanos Becerra said. He said Plancarte Gaspar is the nephew of Enrique Plancarte Solis, a top Knights Templar leader.

Hours before the announcement, a leader of one of the local vigilante groups that sprang up last year in Michoacan to challenge the cartel's control told a radio station that people in the area knew the Knights Templar gang was involved in organ trafficking because several children had been rescued in his town while being transported in a refrigerated container inside a van.

"They were inside a refrigerated box, tightly wrapped in blankets," Dr. Jose Manuel Mireles, leader of the civilian "self-defense" group in Tepalcatepec, said in a morning interview with MVS radio.

Mireles said the van carrying the children was headed to the port city of Lazaro Cardenas and ended up in Tepalcatepec after making a wrong turn.

"They were all children from the same Mexico City school," he said.

He said the children's parents had allowed them to go on an outing to the beach when they were likely kidnapped. He said the children were turned over to their parents who traveled to Tepalcatepec.

Mireles didn't say when the children were rescued and didn't answer his cellphone Monday.

Mexican authorities have said drug trafficking is no longer the top source of income for the Knights Templar, which was once a top producer of crystal meth. The officials say the cartel's main sources of income are illegal mining, illegal logging and extortion.