Raid on a Mexican Children's Home Topples Reputation of Secular Saint Mama Rosa The Independent
go to original July 20, 2014

Marchers carry a banner with a message that reads in Spanish, 'I too am a child of Rosa,' as they march in support of Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, founder of the The Great Family group home in Zamora, Mexico. (Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press)

Reuters Update: Rosa Verduzco, who ran the children's home has been set free after a preliminary probe cleared her of wrongdoing, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said on Sunday.

ZAMORA, Mexico - For more than six decades, thousands of poor Mexican parents struggling to support their children or raise troubled youths sent them to a home run by Mama Rosa, who gained a reputation as a secular saint.

But then parents began complaining to authorities that they were not able to visit their children at The Great Family home in Zamora and an investigation uncovered allegations of rapes, beatings and children held against their will for years in litter-strewn rooms.

In a raid on Tuesday, heavily armed federal police and soldiers arrested nine caretakers, including the 79-year-old founder of the institution, Rosa del Carmen Verduzco.

Amid widespread horror at the revelations, however, supporters of Mama Rosa – including some of Mexico's most respected intellectuals and children who say they were mistreated – have leapt to her defence.

"She did a great job in Zamora and now, clearly, she is being persecuted," Elena Poniatowska, one of Mexico's most prominent writers, told Milenio Television. "What should be done, really, is that the government should take better care of people."

The outpouring of support reflects scepticism of President Enrique Peña Nieto's government, which publicised the raid as an example of its efforts to protect children.

Read the rest at The Independent

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