La nena...

This song is a tearjerker.  About the abduction of a little girl from the child's point of view.  Guatemala is a country with a history of abductions, people taken for ransom.  I don't hear about it happening so often anymore, but that doesn't mean it has stopped entirely.  There is a reason people have tinted windows in their vehicles in Guatemala City.  There is a reason the wealthier families often have bodyguards.  And there are reasons some people choose to live in walled neighborhoods with guards at the gate.  So I am sharing this song, with a rough translation of the lyrics posted beneath it.  And here is a prayer sent out to all those innocent parties caught up in struggles outside their experience or control, to everyone caught up in someone else's dangerous game.  May God have mercy on them, may the world's eyes be opened, and may these precious little ones entrapped in the system be set free. 

The little girl woke up at 6:42 She wrinkles up her eyes to block out the light She recites her prayer as always to God This is followed on her chest with the sign of the cross Not far from her, a car waiting two blocks to the south Armed with textbooks, she goes to the chauffeur Mom says good-bye at the door, waving her hands The girl is nine years old, how could her mother know that she would spend four months following her tracks... And the car that is waiting two blocks away starts its engine. A bullet in the chauffeur's temple, the little girl goes adrift A tree blocks the car; they have her surrounded Her forehead hits the glass and she is wounded The neighbors are inside; no one has seen anything And the hand that killed her chauffeur now blocks her cries The little girl is as nothing starting today The little girl doesn't wrinkle up her eyes; she has not seen light In the branch office of hell, there are no windows Her luck is fixed on currency from another country Her life is a vulgar barter similar to death The little girl is not going to go this afternoon to her English class... The little girl is a tied-up bundle in a brown Chrysler A shoe presses her back, a handkerchief her mouth The little girl is scared to death and doesn't know why The little girl doesn't know that at times even God makes mistakes The little girl is sleepless, a news item; the little girl isn't there Her planet changed its size; it measures 4 x 3 Her sun is the light that filters beneath the door The little girl already doesn't know the difference between a day and a month The little girl doesn't know if she dreams or is awake The little girl has now spent three months wondering why Six kilos lighter, the little girl has red sores Her father is almost crazy, her mother goes to the hospitals once again They agree to the delivery with a manipulated voice The same that has come offering bodily souvenirs And the fear that laughs at everything and rubs its hands The future will have a surly face if they give him such desire The little girl no longer wrinkles her eyes, she has not seen light In the branch-office of hell there are are no windows Her luck is fixed on currency from another country Her life is a vulgar barter similar to death The little girl has now gone ten months without going to ballet On the indicated day, the money is under the bridge The little girl finally leaves the room where she has been guarded All goes as agreed, there is nothing left waiting Suddenly the chief bursts into the room with face uncovered The little girl recognizes the face of someone she knows Because of that, the plans have had to change...