When the volunteers first arrived here in 2012, there was a de facto curfew in Ciudad Juarez. In this city of Chihuahua, a border state of Mexico with Texas in the United States, there were 191 murders per 100 thousand inhabitants in the most violent peaks of the last decade. Drug cartels have been the masters of the streets; fear has been the king.
The violence continues nowadays. Since the end of last year, there has been an upsurge. But when La Brigada de la Alegría volunteers arrive in Colonia 16 de Septiembre, Nueva Galeana and Echo 2000 in Ciudad Juarez arrive in Colonia, neighbors come out from their houses to greet them. “Brigada, Brigada de la Alegría!” they announce. The van enters the neighborhoods with music. The children run to spend the next hours of the evening playing with them in the square, the football field, the park, which are otherwise deserted spaces. José Ignacio Martinez Rodriguez writes about this in a report for El País.
“My parents only let me go out today because the Brigada is coming, so I wait all week for this day to come.” When she tells this to El País’ reporter, Alexia, 11, refers to Thursdays at 5 p.m. That is when she plays soccer with the Brigada.
The Brigada de la Alegría is a project of the civil association Desarrollo Juvenil del Norte, which belongs to the Salesian Missions in Juárez.
Outdoor games are essential to activate joy in children, they believe. From 2012 — when they began — up to now they have worked in 20 neighborhoods where there is violence in Ciudad Juárez. During two hours a week they bring music, games and snacks for the children to gather in the open spaces of their neighborhoods. About 100 children enjoy these activities.
“In each place we look for a different purpose. For example, in Echo 2000 we try to make people stop being afraid. In Colonia 16 what we want is to attract people to the oratory; there is the largest one and many people gather for conviviality, we have many programs and activities. I have a small team of volunteers in each place… Together, in the Brigada, besides the glass of milk or some cookies that we bring, we create a space where we also take advantage of the opportunity to talk. That’s where the children let out their concerns or problems,” explains Francisco Cervantes, the project coordinator, El País’s José Ignacio Martínez Rodríguez.
“My mother always says that this neighborhood is very dangerous; it’s common to hear gunfire and some shots may be fired at us,” Alexia told the reporter. Alexia doesn’t leave home any day after she gets home from school but on Thursdays, to play soccer with the Brigade, which is what she likes best. “My mom always says that this neighborhood is very dangerous. It’s common to hear gunfire and some of the shots could be fired at us. Just yesterday we heard shots.”
“Many children have seen and experienced things that they shouldn’t have: violence at home, sexual abuse, shootings, there are kids who are even used as mules to sell drugs,” Cervantes continues. “Suddenly a kid tells you that his mother has disappeared, or that his father was killed nearby. It’s the ugly part of the Brigade, but at the same time it shows that it’s still necessary.”
Photo: Brigada de la Alegría’s Facebook page