Marco from Ecatepec, Estado de Mexico 

As I was traveling on the metro en route to Ecatepec where I was set to meet up with Marco, a good old friend of mine, I was reminiscing on the months since I first landed in Mexico. I have been here for more than 5 months now and as I feared, I have come to acclimatise myself to the toxic environment of normalisation in incongruous situations. The hustle and bustle, the chaos, the I-don’t-care kind of mentality etc. –the list is very long. 

No!! I refuse to become like that, I thought!! I will resist the temptation to stop being caring towards others, of thinking individually only for my own benefit. 

I remember once that I wrote about heading over to central Mexico City and wondering for how long the feeling of compassion would last. How long would it be before I ignored the problems that stop this country from advancing? 

Even to this day I question myself over all the stuff I see around, the friends I have that are not following the right path, yet all they care about is making money in large amounts. Again, the list goes on… 

Anyway, I am shifting away from what I wanted to share with you today so I apologise… I finally met up with Marco at around 1:24pm at a metro station in the north of Mexico City. 

From there, we headed over to the studio where he has recorded some of his songs. He used to be a Rap musician but his musical interests have turned towards a new genre called ‘Trap’, which is a fusion of rap and special effects integrated that makes the melodies pretty slow. Most of the songs I have heard are boring and don’t inspire me in anyway whatsoever but I guess it’s another way to make money… 

As we arrived at the place, we sat by a sofa where we started chatting about life in general. Soon I was tempted to ask Marco, - Hey mate, if I ask you to think of a space or place where you think you feel freedom in your life, what would your answer be?

Marco responded, - I would probably say that it would be in my neighbourhood or in my home, on the rooftop of my house I think… I suddenly refreshed his mind on the period when he was unjustly locked up for a little over a month. 

He recalled the experience by explaining in detail how he got arrested. It was about 7 years ago. By that point, the State of Mexico was already being patrolled by the military, the federal police, state police, special, municipal police, the lot… A feeling of repression due to the way that security forces in the area operate is currently felt. The argument is that such treatment is needed in order to combat the high levels of insecurity and crime that affect life on a daily basis… 

So, back to the story. Marco and a bunch of his friends were hanging out in a mate’s house, playing video games and chilling out when they suddenly had a whole force of federal police officers breaking into the house at gun point. They had held one of Marco’s friends hostage with a gun pointed right at his temple. The police beat the hell out of Marco and the rest of his mates. 

He was so badly beaten up that he became immune to the subsequent punches. He told me he thought he was going to die. The police dumped them all like pigs in a pick-up truck and drove them away from the area. Marco told me that he thought that they were going to kill them all and dump them somewhere. 

At that moment he was just thinking about his family and the wrong things he did in his life, though there was no justification for this treatment as he had done nothing wrong. As soon as the police yelled, get off the truck now!! a feeling of peace and calm took over his entire being as he noticed that he had arrived at the police station and that he was not going to be executed. 

He says that that was the first time in his life that he felt OK to arrive at the police station… We turn a page to talk about other things as some friends of his joined our conversation. I got introduced and they all started talking about music projects for the future. For the most part I just listened to their chat but what struck me was when one of his mates asked Marco about finding a location to film his next video… 

Hey man, I want you to try and find a kind of really underground place where weird ‘shit’ happens. I want to make it look dark and sinister and stuff, you know what I mean? I don’t want to film another video with guns and drugs –that ‘shit’ sucks and it’s dated!! For that matter I could ask the people from ‘La Union’ to help out. Nah!! 

I want the kind of place where, let’s say, women are enslaved, where kids are sold, you know!! Everyone in the room laughed!! 

I felt utterly ashamed in being in that room, surrounded by people who don’t seem to have the slightest sense of compassion towards the suffering of millions of people who have been victims of Mexico’s reality. 

I concluded that the way to make money for these guys right now is by selling the suffering of others to young kids who are only just starting to form an opinion about the world they live in. We left that place and headed over to Marco’s house. I explained my case to him about what I had just heard and that I did not want to collaborate with those guys in any future projects as I totally opposed their views… 

As we carried on talking, Marco and I created some synergy from sharing similar views we have on the world. It seems that we both wish to make a positive change in the youth and in people in general, although for that to take place, we need to be in harmony with our beliefs and actions… hanging out and working with people that don’t think alike or similarly is only going to contradict our principles and objectives, at least that’s what I think… 

Before we jumped into the taxi that would take us direct to his house I asked him if he felt that Ecatepec has become a better place to live? Marco responded that he feels that it is the same… 

He said that just a few days ago, his mate was shot dead round the corner of his house in broad daylight. He heard the gunshots as he was smoking a spliff but did not think much of it. Suddenly his Mom came up and asked him if he was going to see him mate cos he was dead! He was like, - what? Is he the one they killed just now? Marco felt pity for him, he was saddened but did not seem that moved by it. I guess it’s pretty common to hear of killings in the area where he lives… 

Finally, we got to his house. His Mom was there to sort us out with a very nice meal she had previously prepared. On my plate I had red rice, diced meat with veg, refried beans and some guacamole and tortillas to accompany it all… Marco made some melon water which was also very nice. 

I got introduced to his daughter who is now 9 years old. I remember when I photographed her in Marco’s arms 9 years ago, when she was still a cute baby and now she was so tall and happy!! 

Marco and I chatted for a little longer until it turned 6:30 pm, which meant time to head back or else darkness would trap me by surprise. After spending over an hour on the metro I finally jumped on the bus that would take me to my final stop… I observed people’s faces all the way and kept asking myself questions… 

On the bus, a young man started to talk to the passengers; his accent revealed he was not from Mexico. In fact, he was an immigrant from El Salvador who was stranded in Mexico City. His dream was –or is –to reach the USA. 

He was asking for a few pesos to get by, grab something to eat and keep going. I was impressed with how many people showed solidarity towards him. Actually, earlier on while on my way to meet Marco I bumped into another immigrant from Guatemala who was begging for help… 

After all those experiences I wonder if we can find a moment to reflect and perhaps open ourselves up a little, shed a few tears in solitude to reconcile with what troubles us and try to empathise with other people’s misfortunes. I reckon that that would perhaps make us a little more human after all…