Maras

David Magnusson

Kontinent

Ximena lived on the street. She stole, took drugs and sold drugs. At thirteen she met a guy, a Salvatrucha. He became her husband and the gang was their security. A year ago he was killed by his own gang and the protection she had had disappeared. - I had to move, for the sake of my children. In the end we were just three families left, the others had been killed. The house where Ximena now lives with her five children is derelict. At night she sells candy and guards the cars outside the restaurants in town. She seldom returns home before three in the morning. One-year-old Isabel never goes to sleep before her mother returns.

David Magnusson, "Maras," in POYi Archive, Item #42550, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/42550 (accessed June 19, 2025).