A tragedy in Oasis

I returned on Monday from a week-long trip to Mexico City to interview for jobs (I ended up getting a position as an Assistant English Teacher at a prestigious British international school). When I returned to the Colonia Martín Lopez, I stopped in with Chita to catch up on the events I missed. The only thing she talked about was the murder of a young rarámuri man, aged about 20 or 21. This is what happened:
Around 12:30 AM on Sunday, a drunk chabochi wandered into the settlement and found a rarámuri girl standing by the entrance. The girl was 12-year-old Mara, the oldest daughter of Rosa Angela. The drunkard was attempting to rape her in front of the church when the young rarámuri man, Lorenzo, husband of Laura and father to two infant girls, walked by and saw the rape taking place. Since most of the rarámuri sleep and wake with the sun, it was unusual that any rarámuri would have walked by in time to stop the rape. Lorenzo interfered and pulled the drunk chabochi off the girl. The drunkard swung at Lorenzo and a fight ensued. At some point, the drunkard pulled out a small knife and stuck Lorenzo several times in the abdomen. He also cut Mara's legs when she tried to interfere. The drunkard took off when Lorenzo stopped defending himself and lay still on the pavement. Mara alerted the closest rarámuri family, who alerted Chita, who immediately called the police and went to the settlement to set matters straight herself. She attempted to help Lorenzo, but he had been stabbed too many times--he needed a hospital. Chita says the police arrived very quickly and were very helpful--within minutes they caught the drunkard and sent for an ambulance, but Lorenzo died before the ambulance arrived.

Chita is of course very distraught and spent a lot of time describing how impotent she felt. One of her life goals is to help the rarámuri of Oasis attain a healthier lifestyle--better education and economic opportunities, better nutrition, and a safe neighborhood for the children to play in.

It turns out Lorenzo was Esperanza's cousin. I returned to Oasis two days after the murder occurred, and I found the rarámuri very serious and quiet. As far as I can tell, daily activities are still continuing: the children go to school, the women sit outside to sew, and they walk up the street to go grocery shopping. Julissa and Jiovana told me about the murder themselves, but they spoke as if they were telling me the plot of a movie; in other words, they don't seem to have been traumatized by the event, although they say that they will never again step out of their houses after dark.

There has been one important change. The races have been suspended indefinitely, since they need to take place at sunset due to the treacherous heat during the day.