美国国家公共电台 NPR--Families of missing Mexicans have taken over a prominent space in Mexico City

Families of missing Mexicans have taken over a prominent space in Mexico City

Transcript¹

A roundabout in a busy part of Mexico City became a place for families to honor missing loved ones. Authorities resisted the occupation, which has become symbolic² of a larger struggle.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

There's a roundabout in the middle of a prominent boulevard in Mexico City. It used to be called (speaking Spanish), the roundabout of the palm. And that's because a majestic³ palm tree stood there for more than a century. However, it died last year. But that's when families of missing Mexicans decided⁴ to occupy the space with pictures of their loved ones. A tussle⁵ ensued, full of symbolism and mysticism. Here's NPR's Eyder Peralta.

(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLE)

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE⁶: I meet Jorge Verastegui Gonzalez at a cafe not far from the traffic circle. His brother and his nephew disappeared in January of 2009. So he says when he heard that the palm had died, it felt like an opportunity.

JORGE VERASTEGUI GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) The government constantly wants to hide their faces, so we wanted a reminder⁷ in the most important street in the country.

PERALTA: Within days, families hung a tarp with about 300 pictures of their missing relatives. But by the next morning they were all gone.

GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: The families, he said, took it as yet another disappearance⁸.

GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) It was also a symbolic act, because they used the same tactics that the criminals use to disappear our families.

PERALTA: It was the same way his brother and nephew went missing. Verastegui says men wearing hoods⁹ took them at night. Neighbors saw it. They called the family. The family called the police.

GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) But the police never bothered to search for them.

PERALTA: A police chief, he says, told them a cartel beat them up, but that they were alive. Verastegui says those words, beat up but alive, have haunted him for 14 years. Part of him accepts that they're dead.

GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) But then there's always that hope.

PERALTA: That uncertainty¹⁰, he says, becomes a form of torture. But it's also why they can't give up on this traffic circle.

GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) They take down the pictures, and we put them back up. They erect¹¹ barriers, and we put the pictures over the barriers.

PERALTA: For a year now, it's been a cat and mouse game with the government. The palm dies. The families put up pictures. The government takes them down. The circle becomes known as the roundabout of the disappeared. The government plants a new tree, a huge Montezuma cypress¹². The families call it the guardian¹³ of the disappeared. But within weeks its leaves fall. As Verastegui puts it, the branches become brittle¹⁴. They look ashen¹⁵.

GONZALEZ: (Through interpreter) Despite the clear evidence that this tree was likely dead, they kept saying it was alive, that it was just struggling to adapt.

PERALTA: And then one day, just like their missing loved ones, just like their pictures, the new tree disappears. The government said the tree was transported to a nursery south of the city. They insisted it was alive, but every time we ask to see it, we're rebuffed.

(SOUNDBITE OF SLOW DRUMMING)

PERALTA: The following Sunday, I head to the traffic circle. A huge parade of Indigenous¹⁶ activists¹⁷ march across the boulevard.

(SOUNDBITE OF CONCH BEING BLOWN)

PERALTA: Some family members gather with photos and glue. Officially, more than 100,000 Mexicans have been reported missing. Most of them went missing during the war on drugs. Auria Rubia Reyes' brother disappeared when he was leaving work back in 2019.

AURIA RUBIA REYES: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: The government, she says, thinks they can cover the sun with a finger. She says that's why every time the government tears down her brother's picture, she comes and puts it back up.

REYES: (Through interpreter) It's like we're screaming that they don't help us. They don't back us.

PERALTA: These days, the traffic circle is just a hole in the ground. The government has placed eight-foot-high metal barriers all around it.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: The families gather in front of the barriers, and as they read the names of their missing loved ones, they paste oversized black-and-white pictures on the metal barricades¹⁸. The city buzzes around them - glass high-rises, cyclists, runners, families enjoying their Sunday. It's almost too much for Rosa Icela Velazco Acosta. Her son went missing a year ago.

ROSA ICELA VELAZCO ACOSTA: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: "Everyone, please wake up. You have a family."

ACOSTA: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: "This comes from a mother who is heartbroken, who is the walking dead - please."

ACOSTA: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: "Please. I'm looking for my son. I want him dead or alive. Just give him to me." She cries, and yet no one stops to listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRD CALLING)

PERALTA: After a month of asking, the government's environmental agency says we can come to see the Montezuma cypress at a nursery called Nezahualcoyotl.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: But when we get there, the two arborists assigned to talk to us tell us that we don't have permission to see the tree. We still talk. Right now, says Roberto Quintero, they are still investigating what killed the 100-year-old palm that used to be at the traffic circle.

ROBERTO QUINTERO: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: The palm was afflicted¹⁹ with lethal²⁰ yellowing and pink rot. One of those likely killed it. It's a fascinating scientific discussion, but I stopped them and asked plainly...

(Speaking Spanish).

...What about the Montezuma cypress that replaced the palm? What happened to that tree?

(LAUGHTER)

PERALTA: His colleague Isidro Recillas says the tree had a tough go of it. Just as it had adapted to its new home, he says, a car crashed into it and damaged about half of the roots.

ISIDRO RECILLAS: (Speaking Spanish).

PERALTA: It's likely that the tree's interior tissue was also damaged. The tree was replanted here at this nursery. It's recovering, he says. It's alive.

RECILLAS: (Through interpreter) But it won't ever have the structure it had before. At best, a branch might sprout²¹ from the roots.

PERALTA: Beat up, but alive - we leave without ever seeing the tree, with hope that it's alive, but with a feeling that it might be dead.

Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

3 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 tussle   

n.&v.扭打，搏斗，争辩

参考例句：

• They began to tussle with each other for the handgun.他们互相扭打起来，抢夺那支手枪。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

8 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

9 hoods   

n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩

参考例句：

• Michael looked at the four hoods sitting in the kitchen. 迈克尔瞅了瞅坐在厨房里的四条汉子。 来自教父部分
• Eskimos wear hoods to keep their heads warm. 爱斯基摩人戴兜帽使头暖和。 来自辞典例句

10 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

11 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

12 cypress   

n.柏树

参考例句：

• The towering pine and cypress trees defy frost and snow.松柏参天傲霜雪。
• The pine and the cypress remain green all the year round.苍松翠柏，常绿不凋。

13 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

14 brittle   

adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的

参考例句：

• The pond was covered in a brittle layer of ice.池塘覆盖了一层易碎的冰。
• She gave a brittle laugh.她冷淡地笑了笑。

15 ashen   

adj.灰的

参考例句：

• His face was ashen and wet with sweat.他面如土色，汗如雨下。
• Her ashen face showed how much the news had shocked her.她灰白的脸显示出那消息使她多么震惊。

16 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

17 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

19 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

20 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

21 sprout   

n.芽，萌芽；vt.使发芽，摘去芽；vi.长芽，抽条

参考例句：

• When do deer first sprout horns?鹿在多大的时候开始长出角？
• It takes about a week for the seeds to sprout.这些种子大约要一周后才会发芽。