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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2006 
Mexican City's Rape Saga Has Lessons for Locals, Expatriate Americans Alike
 Alfredo Corchado & Angela Kocherga - Dallas Morning News
| | 58-year-old with Texas rap sheet charged in sex assaults of five women. |
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico – For almost a year, a man preyed on older women here, sexually assaulting his victims, eluding authorities and causing many residents to re-evaluate the lifestyle of this town, long a haven for expatriates.
Earlier this month, local police, with help from the FBI, tracked down and arrested a man with a criminal record in Texas and charged him with the rape of five women, four American and one Canadian.
The arrest of José Luis Álvarez González, 58, might solve the crimes. But for the growing number of Americans who head south to retire – many of them from Texas – the case has provided lessons in working with local residents and authorities and understanding the resentment some Mexicans feel about what they see as preferential treatment for foreigners.
"Other than a smile and wave of the hand, many of us didn't know the first thing about who our own neighbors were," said Ruth Starr, a 66-year-old Arlington native who lives here part time. "We all learned quite a bit from this horrible ordeal. We all learned to trust."
Some native residents, on the other hand, say the case illustrates the difference in the treatment of foreign women and Mexican women in similar circumstances.
"If this had happened to a Mexican woman, I don't think authorities would have made such a big deal," said Alejandra Saucillo, director of the city's Prevention of Violence Program.
She added, however: "This has also had a positive effect. We're seeing an information campaign emerging for women on how to act after an assault."
Older women targeted
Since October, five women, all of them older, were raped in this town, a 450-year-old colonial jewel famed for its art scene and popular with Texans, who use it as a playground and home.
The assaults occurred in a country where such crimes frequently go unreported by women because they expect only cursory investigations. Many people are convinced, for example, that the slayings of more than 400 women in and around Ciudad Juárez over the last dozen years have not been solved because of indifference among authorities.
But the expatriate women pressed their cases, surprising local residents and forcing authorities to act. City officials even sought assistance from Dallas-area law enforcement experts, as well as the FBI. And the expatriate community developed relationships with authorities they previously had distrusted.
"Positive things happened," said Cristóbal Finkelstein, director of the city's international relations department. "The most important thing, I would say, is that people started to meet their neighbors, and a number of new programs were initiated and will continue into the future. In the end, we broke down a lot of barriers between both sides."
Guanajuato state authorities allege that for months, Mr. Álvarez broke into the women's homes late at night and threatened them with a knife. He would assault them sexually and then talk to his victims for hours, often speaking ill of his own experiences in the United States.
Awakened by flashlight
That was the case with one woman from upstate New York, who reported her assault to police and demanded action. Last February, she said, she awoke at 4 a.m. to a flashlight shining in her eyes.
"My initial response in just a heartbeat was to just close my eyes and pretend it wasn't there," said the 60-year-old, who, like many older women here, lives alone.
The Dallas Morning News does not identify victims of sexual assault.
"I knew what happened to the other women before me," she said. "They had been beaten. I didn't scream. I didn't fight back."
Her ordeal continued when she reported the crime to police, she said. "The process was almost beyond description, almost abject unconcern," she said.
That soon changed, however. The story drew the attention of news media outside San Miguel, as well as other expatriates, many of whom have significant investments in the town. Of San Miguel's 80,000 people, more than 10,000 are American, most of them from Texas, said Fabiola García, Mr. Finkelstein's assistant.
The city fired some police officers and pushed for salary increases and professional standards. City officials also consulted several outside sources, including local enforcement officers from Midlothian and Waxahachie, in designing training for local police.
Police officers and the mayor soon began holding town hall meetings with foreigners, trying to assure them of their safety. Authorities increased foot, car and horse patrols, particularly in areas where the rapes occurred. Residents, American and Mexican alike, formed neighborhood watch groups modeled after programs in the United States, Mr. Finkelstein said.
"Our safe city is now safer," he said.
The man in custody
Mr. Álvarez was captured July 5 and charged with rape and burglary after DNA tests tied him to evidence collected from at least one crime scene, Mexican state and U.S. federal authorities say.
Not much is known about Mr. Álvarez. He has used various aliases and served five years in a Texas prison for burglary, authorities said.
Mr. Álvarez, who faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted, is being held in state lockup in Guanajuato. State authorities said he denied committing the crimes but acknowledged having sex with the women, saying they had consented out of their "liberal views." Requests for an interview with him were denied.
Meanwhile, Rosalinda Chávez, a 40-year-old food vendor, said she applauds the expatriate women for speaking out and trying to hold law enforcement officials accountable.
But, she added, "A Mexican woman would not have received that type of attention. ... It was the dollars that Americans bring here that mobilized authorities."
The city's international relations department's email address is Relacionesinternacionales@ sanmiguelallende.gob.mx.
Alfredo Corchado is based in Mexico City for The Dallas Morning News. Angela Kocherga is Belo Television's bureau chief in El Paso/Mexico. Email acorchado@dallasnews.com and akocherga@belo-dc.com |
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