Abuse of Interpol
More than four years ago, Abril Meixueiro and her daughter, Sofia Gonzalez, escaped home to Colorado from an abusive marriage in Mexico.
As reporter Jane Bradley writes in her recent investigation into the misuses of Interpol, the world's largest police organization, "she had just been granted full custody in a divorce from a man she described as violent and controlling." After one particularly awful night, she filed a police report in Mexico, where a judge issued a restraining order against her ex-husband. It didn't end there, however.
"Once in the United States, Ms. Meixueiro learned that he had filed a child abduction charge against her and that Interpol had issued a red notice at the request of the police in Mexico," writes Bradley.
Now, Meixueiro sometimes drives long distances, like from Colorado to Miami for work, and avoids large airports where Interpol red notices are used. She doesn't want to be flagged and sent back to Mexico, where her abusive ex-husband still lives. He still makes attempts to gain custody back and pursue her and Gonzalez. Gonzalez can talk with him over video chat from time to time from a court order, but almost always chooses not to.
Extra security precautions and her faith have been consistent through it all. When people knock at the door, Meixueiro looks at the camera first.
“I’m on the red-notice list next to all of these horrible people, serial killers, drug dealers,” she said. “Not him, who was prosecuted for domestic violence. But me who ran away from domestic violence? Who’s protecting her child? I am on their list?”
Photographed for The New York Times