Members of Fuentes Rojas remember those killed in drug cartel-driven violence by embroidering handkerchiefs like this one, which reads, "If you forget me they win."
In cities all over Mexico women are facing down brutal drug cartels with a needle and thread.
It is estimated that the water in as many as 200 fountains in major Mexican cities have been dyed red. Next to the fountains, and in hundreds of Mexican homes, women are creating needlepoint handkerchiefs with the names of Mexicans who have died in the drug war, most killed by cartels.
The movement is called Fuentes Rojas (Red Fountains). Its members say they are “embroidering for peace.” The movement has spread to the United States, and in Tucson mostly men have taken up the cause.
“We’re interconnected. … It’s easy to think that we are not,” said Hank Tusinski, who has taken up embroidering.
The idea of being interconnected has led Tusinski to join other men in learning how to embroider to create a way to acknowledge the lives. He said Americans demand illegal drugs, and cartels are delivering.
“Until we take responsibility,” he said, "then we are just going to continue to perpetuate the crisis.”
In the past decade, almost 200,000 Mexicans have died in the cartel-driven drug wars. Groups all over Tucson have formed needlepoint circles to create hundreds of handkerchiefs. They will be on display all of August at the Joel Valdez library.
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