Translated by Lindsey de Haan
Mexico City - The Spanish daily newspaper, El País, revealed the story of the woman who gave birth, April 30th, on the Mexico City subway, which is far from being the happy story told by different media and the authorities of the Federal District.
Maria, the 22 year old mother of the newborn--who was offered free rides on the subway for the rest of her life by the Mayor of Mexico City, Miguel Angel Mancera—is a poor woman who has worked since age 15 and lives with her mother, Sabina, with whom she goes to an open-air market to sell toys from 10 am until 5 pm. Working at the market, they earn about 100 to 120 pesos daily [US$8 to $10], which is equal to 3,600 pesos [US$300] monthly.
With that money, which is higher than the minimum wage [US $5 to $6 per day], Maria covers --or tries to cover—the needs of her other 2 children, a 4 year old and a 10 month old. This means at home there are 5 mouths to feed.
El País indicates that Maria is the youngest of 6 sisters and adds that
“her story is nothing special. Just as the story of her delivery is not a pretty anecdote. It does, however, reflect the misery of a country so divided between the rich and the poor, where the system marks what each person earns and what they can afford. Nothing more.”Maria told the reporter, Paula Chouza, in an interview that on the 30th of April, Children’s Day, she began to feel sick around 5 am when she decided to go to the hospital on the subway.
She explained she first took a microbus from Ixtapaluca, in the state of Mexico, to the subway stop, La Paz.
The first ride took 45 minutes and when she boarded the subway she wanted to go to the Women’s Hospital, located 50 kilometers [30 miles] away, where they take care of women without Social Security [health insurance].
She should have completed the journey, which consisted of of 26 stops and 2 line changes, but she never made it. About 8:30 am, Maria gave birth to a baby in the Pantitaln station, an enormous ant hill where about 390,000 people pass through every day, according to El País.
The mother was attended by Mexico City Police and then moved with the child to a hospital.
In his Twitter account, Mancera said he would give recognition to the police from the Secretariat of Public Security of the capital that helped the young woman. The city authorities took advantage of the incident to show off the quality of their service, "our police receive training in first aid," said the Mexico City Public Safety Secretary, Jesus Rodriguez Almeida.
Not much is known of the father of the child, whom Mary met six years ago. The couple separated eight months ago.
Miguel Camarillo, a doctor at Coyocan Pediatric Hospital, said that, because the baby was born in an extremely polluted environment, it is potentially infected, so it will be provided with antibiotics for several days.
The child, who will not be released soon, is fighting against infections, although that was not mentioned by anyone, states the newspaper.
Maria said in the interview that "the trips are very expensive" and that authorities have said that if she needs anything that she should “call them”, although she has not yet called.
The Metro Public Transport System has given the baby a chair, clothing and diapers, so far.
"The child is just fine and my daughter as well," said Sabina, the grandmother of the "Subway child."