November 27, 2012

Maria Santos Gorrostieta - Murdered by the Mexican Drug Cartels

Maria Santos Gorrostieta, age 36, died sometime after November 12, 2012, in the Mexican state of Michoacan.  Her badly beaten body was found on a roadside on November 17, 2012. 

She had been the Mayor of the small town of Tiquicheo from 2008 to 2011. She had condemned the drug cartels and traffickers, who reportedly were the violent overlords of Tiquicheo, under the fear of which lived the ordinary population of the town. The local drug trade calls the shots and makes decisions about what happens in the Tiquicheo area. 

She was also a medical doctor.  She vowed to oppose the drug lords and they were not happy. They don't want opposition.  They want to run Mexico. 

Twice they tried to kill her and she was shot three times.  Her husband, Jose Sanchez Chavez was killed.  She ended up needing a colostomy bag because of the damage to her intestines.  She later remarried. 
Saint Bernadette of Lourdes,
who said,  "I am ground
like a grain of wheat", pray
for Maria, who was ground
down by evil

On November 12, 2012, she was in her car with her daughter and was dragged out of her vehicle and beaten.  Maria pleaded that her kidnappers leave her daughter alone, after which the ex-mayor was thrown in her kidnappers’ car.

She had said after one attempt on her life:  "What occupies my mind is my responsibility towards my people: the children, the women, the elderly and the men who break their souls every day without rest to find a piece of bread for their children......I will rise up however many times God allows me to, to keep on searching, negotiating plans, projects and actions for the benefit of all of society, but in particular, for the vulnerable ones. This is who I am."

Maria is survived by many loving friends, supporters and relatives. 

Oceans of tears have been shed for this woman.

Maria is a modern day heroine.  She is a heroine of Mexico and of the World. 

God save us from the Lost Ones who stalk the Earth stealing away life.  

Pray that Maria Santos Gorrostieta is in heaven. Pray that she is at peace and is with God. Amen.

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