Angel's Home is in Prison

Monday, 01 March 2010 08:04

The three-month-old baby boy is wrapped in a blue blanket. He wears a Winnie the Pooh beanie on his head and draws attention from the many women surrounding him.  Angel Alejandro Beltrán is healthy.  There is nothing unusual about him, but despite his clean record he lives behind prison walls in Mexico.

At the Women’s Federal Prison in Nogales, Sonora, babies are allowed to stay with their mothers until the age of four. Currently, there are only two toddlers keeping their mother’s company as they serve time. This is a sight not uncommon to prisons just south of the border.

 It has been almost a year-long roller coaster for Angel’s mom, Cynthia Anahi Beltrán Cabrera, 21, since she was first arrested last April in Santa Ana, Sonora. Beltrán was indicted for holding weapons and ammo inside a vehicle on her property. According to the Mexican Secretary of Public Security Website, authorities confiscated a .50 mm caliber Browning machine gun, a .30 caliber machine gun, a .50 caliber Barret Rifle and 249 rounds of ammunition for AK-47 assault rifles and other items.  

The 21-year-old claims innocence and says that she doesn’t know anything about whose vehicle it was and how it got there. Her arrest was highly publicized because she shares the Beltrán name with Arturo and Alfredo Beltrán Leyva - leaders for one of the biggest drug cartels in Mexico.  Beltrán says authorities performed a DNA test to try and prove a family relation between them but didn’t find a connection.

“I was about a month-and-a-half pregnant when everything was happening,” Beltrán said in Spanish. “I was scared I would lose him [Angel] and doctors had told me I was at high risk of having a miscarriage. I thought the stress of it all would for sure prevent his birth.”

Because of Beltrán’s  risk of miscarriage she was transferred to Hermosillo, Sonora, to give birth in a hospital. Once both she and the baby were stable she was transferred back to Nogales.

The prison she’s currently in does have individual rooms in a building that seven inmates share. There, she and Angel live in a space that is big enough for a twin size mattress and a few personal items. Beltrán says Angel lives a life as normal as any other child.

“He has toys,” says Beltrán. “He has a lot of stuffed animals and his favorite is probably a stuffed dog that he’s always talking to.”

Angel’s grandparents come and visit almost every weekend and bring necessities for the pair. They constantly deliver diapers which prevent Angel from running out. While Beltrán’s parents would like to have them both back in Santa Ana, she says they tell her that it is better for him to be with her.

With teary eyes and a broken voice Beltrán continued, “I named him Angel because that’s how I felt - like he was my guardian angel through it all.”

Beltrán watches as the rest of the inmates hold her son and caress his face.

“They tell me that when I leave it’ll be different for them too. They say he gives them peace.”

Although she says she doesn’t feel like Angel is in any kind of danger when being around the rest of the women in the prison, Beltrán suggested that it is because she doesn’t deny him to any of them.

“Perhaps if I did keep him to myself they might think I feel like I’m better than them, and then they might try to do something bad to him. I wouldn’t want to subject him to that,” said Beltrán.

Angel is Beltrán’s first child. She says it makes her feel sad to think that she was not able to experience her first pregnancy like most people. She didn’t have a baby shower and her close friends and family weren’t able to rub her stomach in hopes of feeling him kick.

“I spent the whole time in here, worrying about everything and what would happen.”

Beltrán has high hopes of being released in the next couple months. She says she strongly believes that with new arrests related to the case and evidence presented by her lawyer, her name will finally be cleared and she can go back to her parents' house.

According to Beltrán, she has had no contact with her husband since the arrest. Although her in-laws come and visit, she says he hasn’t attempted to contact her.  

“I didn’t know anything about it [the vehicle], and if I didn’t that means my husband did. I’m angry and confused. I didn’t think he would be involved in something like that. Often I think that things happen for a reason and that God always tries to teach people lessons. But I just don’t think it’s fair that I have to pay for someone else’s mistakes,” says Beltrán.

Angel’s mother admits that prison isn’t a place for a child to be in, but says she cannot imagine dealing with her arrest on her own.

“I’m sure I’ll tell him about his first few months when he gets older,” Beltrán wipes her tears. “He’ll know one way or another.”

A video in Spanish from El Universal TV in Mexico when Beltrán was first arrested back in April. Take a look at the weapons she was allegedly guarding for the drug cartels.

Written by Matilde Cantero You are reading Angel's Home is in Prison articles