Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, the 79-year-old director of the Gran Familia children’s shelter in Zamora, Michoacan, will not face prosecution over allegations that minors were routinely mistreated at the facility she has operated for more than 50 years.
According to Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam, charges will not be filed against Verduzco, known as “Mama Rosa,” because of her advanced age and deteriorating mental state. Verduzco was moved this week to a private hospital in Guadalajara where she underwent a cardiac catheterization. She was released after a few days.
However, Murillo said authorities will press ahead and prosecute employees at the shelter who engaged in abusive practices against children.
Six of the eight employees detained during a police raid of the shelter earlier this month are still in custody.
Police and Mexican soldiers intervened at the refuge after receiving reports that children were being held against their will, as well as allegations of beatings and rapes. Authorities subsequently removed more than 450 minors who were living in “squalid and insanitary” conditions. Some of the children were so undernourished that authorities said they could not determine their ages.
Murillo maintained Verduzco had not been aware of sexual abuses committed against any of the children but said there were “indications” that she had used physical punishments.Several former child residents at the shelter leaped to Verduzco’s defense this week, noting that she was obliged to rule with an iron fist to keep order among her young charges. A frequent punishment, sources say, was to lock unruly children in a small darkened room known as Pinocho. Others who tried to escape from the home were beaten, it is alleged.
Murillo said support for Verduzco from leading Mexican personalities, including former President Vicente Fox, did not influence his decision not to press charges against her. (Fox has subsequently criticized authorities for jumping to conclusions about Verduzco and has said he would happily use funds from his charitable foundation to set her up at the helm of another children’s home.)
By providing a refuge for poverty-stricken children from broken families, Verduzco was regarded as a saint in some quarters. She earned praise from some of Mexico’s most eminent intellectuals such as Enrique Krauze, Jean Meyer and Elena Poniatowska. The home received financial backing from a wide range of sponsors, including individuals, businesses and even the Michoacan state government.
But authorities say the public face of the institution was completely different to the life that went on inside.
According to some reports, staff told family members to cough up thousands of dollars to get their children released from the shelter. They also “charged” parents for visiting their children, it is alleged.
More than 50 children who had been sent to the shelter by Jalisco authorities were repatriated to Guadalajara this week to be received by personnel from the state Family Development Agency (DIF). Parents or relatives collected 32 of the minors, but 21 orphans have not been claimed and will be dispersed to various homes in the state.