Author Information
Suppressed Justice
Authors: Mariana Valdés and Erick Huerta
Suppressed Justice
The day began as usual, I was getting ready to go to work, a cup of coffee, and I heard about this horrible accident that involved a woman and her two children. I drove to the office thinking about that poor family; when I arrived everyone in the meeting was talking about how awful it would be for the lone father to go through this hard moment with no one by his side. I decided to ignore it, it would ruin my day and I don't want that. Hugo Huerta, my boss and one of the most honorable journalist of all time, start to deliver the tasks for today. I was wishing not to get that story, but wishing wasn't enough because that was my work for today: writing the note of that accident.
I went to the place where the accident occurred, the asked some questions to the neighbors about what happened, what they heard, everything they could say that would be useful. Then, I went to the husband of that poor woman. He was devastated, nothing that I said was useful. He didn't tell me much, he was shook.
Since my investigation was kind of useless, I went to the police but they didn't say much. Actually, they almost repeat the information of the morning. So, I start to dig for information of this woman and I found nothing interesting at all: she studied communication, devoted mother, good daughter, good wife, she was a model citizen, didn't get in trouble, attend family events, etc. A normal life.
About the kids, well, they were normal kids. Went to the school near their house, didn't cause much trouble than normal. They were a fine a family. Since I didn't come out with something useful I decided to wait for the police report.
Six hours had passed and I heard the phone ringing, it was a friend of my boss who wanted to share with him what he knew about the incident: it was not an accident. I was in shock, I couldn't stop thinking about the family, about that woman, about those children. But, who in the world would want to kill a family? Who is capable of causing so much pain to a family? This would bring the city upside down and I decided that I was going to be the one to share the news with the world.
I need to start writing but first I need to go with my boss to tell him that I would take of the research. I waited until his call was over and tell him what I got in mind. I thought it was a great idea, but he didn't agree with me. He said that everything would be handle as an accident, we will talk about the victims and that's it, no crazy theories, no possible suspects, just a little piece of information about the situation.
I wanted to argue, I wanted to ask him what was the reason we wouldn´t tell the truth about everything, what was the reason we wouldn't honor the victims, I didn't say anything, I just said yes with my head.
I went to my office and despite what my boss told me, I start to look out for information and make some calls, I found something really interesting: the husband of the woman and father of the kids was related to one of many money laundry cases that remain hidden to the public. That scandal hit the city in a horrible way, a lot of people related to the government, specially those who had really high ranks, one of them was a good friend of my boss.
At first, I couldn't believe it, hide the truth to protect a friend. I get it, is your friend and everything but something bigger is going on and those people need justice and I would give it to them. I want it to give it to them and I will.
I was decided to do something about it, I started by gathering all the information I could, I started to connecting all the dots, all the faces, all the facts. I really was shocked of all the dirty things I found, but I was glad because I was doing something. I came out with a great piece of news, ready to be published. Until something happened, I was made to remain in silence, just like many others who wanted it to tell the truth.
