Don’t mess with our block!

Last night, I got to witness Leon neighborhood justice in action and I think I fell in love with León, and Elder, all over again. Here's what went down:

It was about 11:30pm. Elder and I were in our living room talking about a movie we’d just finished watching, when we started to hear screams from outside. At first we continued talking. The last time we’d heard similar screams, we checked and it was just some kids playing.

But the screams continued and sounded pretty serious, so I said to Elder, “Why don’t you check outside and see what’s going on?”

The next thing I knew, Elder was running up the street in his shorts and flip flops along with several other neighborhood guys, in hot pursuit of someone.

More neighbors started to come out of their houses and Ianaris, our friend who lives next door, came down from her balcony where she told us she’d just witnessed a girl being attacked right out in front. She said the attacker had the girl down on the ground and was beating her.

We stood there and watched as more neighbors came out to the street to see what was going on, and more guys joined the chase.

Soon our neighborhood defenders were on their way back to our block, with Ianaris’s brother holding the attacker’s arms behind his back and walking him forward. Someone called the police and they set the mugger on the sidewalk to wait. Elder ordered him to stay put and keep quiet as he and a few other guys guarded him.

More and more neighbors ventured out as people gathered around to get a glimpse of the mugger. It felt like an old-school public humiliation, with him just standing there getting stared at. A neighbor from around the corner came down the street yelling that they should beat him up, since who knew if the police would do their job, and he might well be released back to the streets the next day. But everyone just waited for the police to come. This was no lynch mob.

The girl who’d been attacked, who turned out to be a foreigner staying at the hostel down the street, came out with two other friends and eyed the guy from across the street. “That’s him,” I heard her say, “Yes, that’s him.” She was crying and holding a water bottle to her forehead where she had been hurt from his beating.

Then things just quieted down as we all waited for the police to arrive. A neighbor across the street exclaimed, “Those police! Someone might try to kill you, and by the time the police get there, you’re dead.” And then they arrived.

Elder greeted the officers and told them what had happened, and they immediately handcuffed the mugger and told him to get into the back of the pickup truck. Though I thought it would be an awkwardly difficult task to climb into the pickup while handcuffed, he made it look rather easy. I wondered if he’d done this before.

The girl who’d been attacked had started to walk back to the hostel with her friends, but was called back since she would need to make a statement to the police. After some discussion, the girl and her friends got into the pickup with the officers, and Kike (Ianaris’s boyfriend who lives across the street and whose family owns the hostel where the girls were staying) got into the back of the pickup truck along with a police officer and the mugger.

The truck pulled away as they headed to the station and thus ended the evening’s drama on La Cuadra de la Marcoleta (the name of our block).

Elder and I headed into our house, and we said good night to the neighbors. Ianaris’s mother said, “Ahora pueden dormir tranquilos” (Now you can sleep peacefully), to which Ianaris added, “La Abby tranquila con su Superman!” (Abby at peace with her Superman by her side!) and everyone laughed.

Although someone had just been attacked on the street right outside our doors, this incident actually made me feel safer about living here. Witnessing the reactions of our neighbors to someone in trouble really moved me and made me feel mighty proud – of our block and of my husband. Once people saw what was happening, they took action immediately. That is how a community should work, and it’s a good feeling to be part of such a community here in León. I probably appreciate this type of community reaction even more than the locals do, coming as I do from big U.S. cities where such a united neighborhood response would not be expected at all.

I also learned two important lessons from this incident:

1. When in some kind of trouble, scream. Scream loud and keep screaming. That may sometimes be your best defense.
2. When you hear screaming, respond. Even if the last time you did so, it just turned out to be some kids playing around. Who knows what it might be this time? Better to react quickly so you can help if needed.

Hopefully now this mugger has learned his own important lesson, which is…

You don’t mess with our block! Yeeaaaaaaah!

¡Viva León, Jodido!