Case of blonde girl beggar strikes nerve in Mexico

Case of blonde girl beggar strikes nerve in Mexico


It started last week when a Facebook user posted a photo of the girl standing next to a rearview mirror on a Guadalajara street. He apparently suspected she might have been stolen because "her parents are brown," and said he had already contacted a welfare agency and state prosecutors.

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"The concern was the suspicion the girl had been stolen," Gonzalez said. "We had to respond because there was suspicion a crime had been committed."

Officials quickly tracked down the 5-year-old child, put her in a Guadalajara orphanage and detained her 23-year-old mother for two days.

Authorities said she lied about her address and about the father of the girl, first stating he was a foreigner, then saying he was was Mexican, but estranged from her.

The child's grandmother — who also has green eyes — was able to hand over the birth certificate of the girl. Gonzalez said the mother was released and there were no signs the girl had been kidnapped, though DNA results are pending. Authorities say they are also considering charges of child exploitation.

The case outraged many.

"We need to see a white girl to worry about kidnapping, trafficking of children and child exploitation. I've never seen photos of Indian children or simply dark-skinned kids circulating on the Internet with people asking others to help them," wrote human rights activist Yali Noriega in her blog.

Some think the mother could sue the government. Xochitl Galvez, a former federal Cabinet minister who is an advocate for Indian rights, said authorities tend to rely too much on public opinion when chasing delicate cases.

"It is not right that just because of the color of her skin, they can say it's not her daughter," she said. "There is no such thing as a pure race. We are a mix ... that tells you a lot about the authorities' lack of knowledge."