Lagrimas Del Maguey

El maguey lloro.

When my mother recalls her childhood years in Zacatecas where she harvested the natural sweet candy from the maguey's pencas, she calls them "lagrimas." She never refers that the maguey cried and she does not personify the agave plant either. For the maguey was a life sustaining plant that offered nourishment, medecine, and fibers; however after the aguamiel or juice of the maguey was removed, the drops left behind were described as lagrimas or teardrops. Just as the aguamiel, the lagrimas were sweet and delicious.

In "Lagrimas Del Maguey," I explore the connection of my mother's relationship with the maguey as protection and sustinance against the violence of the U.S./Mexican border cities of El Paso and Cd. Juarez. Just as the maguey grows in my mother's home town, the maguey extends to the border cities of El Paso and Cd. Juarez; however the U.S. is constructing a wall from Fort Hancock, Texas to Santa Teresa, New Mexico with the intention of blocking Native people without documentation to cross the border while at Cd. Juarez, an affluent family has terrorized the community of Lomas De Poleo by making them hostages and with the intention of expropriating the residents' lands.

If the Lagrimas for my mother is the maguey's candy, Lagrimas are now the personification of grief and lucha rising between the militarized fences. These tears arise between a contested site of greed and human rights abuses, Lomas de Poleo and where the dissappeared women of Juarez were found murdered. Lagrimas Del Maguey is my grief toward the injustices suffered on both sides of the border, my home, my chante, and they are also the call for justice.