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When death is not natural, but rather the result of “extrajudicial executions”, the
mourning process of the surviving next of kin is different. There are four stages to
the normal mourning process: denial of the death, anger, depression and
acceptance. In cases of deaths due to natural causes, this is explained in keeping
with the ideological and cultural resources of each individual.
When death
corresponds to an extrajudicial execution, this circumstance intensifies, interferes
with or prevents the mourning process. Consequently, the mourning process may
last a lifetime or may never happen; all the states and emotions described above
remain “locked up” and appear, alternately, at different moments.
It can be scientifically shown that, during the normal course of life, there are
different effects when parents have to confront the death of a child; this situation is
always more difficult to get over than the death of parents. For the siblings, the
effect takes a different form. They may put themselves in the place of the brother or
sister who died and think that the same could happen to them; that could produce
some type of dysfunctionality, which may be momentary, and is a source of
suffering.
The emotional effects of a trauma of this nature may possibly exacerbate a physical
or mental illness, owing to the unitary nature of the human being. Traumatic events
that unbalance the mental system eventually have repercussions on the organism.
Research has been conducted on the neuro-physiological and biological effects of
trauma that impact different functions of the organism and which can generate,
produce or awaken new or latent conditions. This is the case of diabetes or a
psychosis, whether or not the persons has a family history of such ailments.
The only possessions of the poor are their children. They are the only things they
create and possess and, to some degree, a means of security for the future.
Generally, such people do not have access to the formal labor market, do not retire
and do not have a pension, and they expect that their children will help them when
they grow older. The situation of poverty does not interfere in any way in the family
ties between mothers and their children. The psychological dynamic within families
with children who live on the street, is no different from any other psychological
dynamic, because the children seek the street as a social center and in order to
work. Poverty intensifies the family ties with the children, because they are all that
the parents have and children occupy a very special place in the lives and emotions
of the poor.
During the interviews conducted with the witnesses, similarities or common patterns
were detected in the reaction of the families to the violations and the loss of their
loved ones.
Ana María Contreras knows what it is to live on the street. She was abandoned by
her mother or placed in a house where she had to do housework. She was
mistreated in that house and, at the age of 13, she left it. She went to school in the
evening. She is a fairly reliable, very intelligent person, full of energy and the desire
to educate her children and improve their financial status. Henry Giovanni was born
when she was 17 years of age. At this age, having a child and not having anything
else, creates an extremely special, very profound relationship. Henry Giovanni was
her preferred child, although she did not say as much, and she had placed great
hopes in him. She believes that it was because of his stepfather that the victim