Abril Meixueiro drives home in New Castle, Colo., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Meixuero’s abusive ex-husband, who had been convicted of domestic abuse and had a restraining order against him, used an Interpol red notice when she fled from Mexico with their daughter in order to pursue her and, despite her having custody, claimed she kidnapped their child.
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
Meixueiro and her daughter, Sofia Gonzalez, 8, talk as they walk home after school in Glenwood Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.
Meixueiro poses for a portrait outside her New Castle, Colo., home on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.
A crucifix adorns the wall next to the front door and lock at Abril Meixueiro’s home in Glenwood Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. She says faith, and extra security precautions, have helped her get through her experience with her abusive ex-husband and Interpol.
A video camera door bell greets visitors to Meixueiro’s home in Glenwood Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. “When people knock at the door, I look at the camera first,” said Meixuero.
Meixueiro cleans around her New Castle, Colo., home as her daughter gets ready for a court-mandated phone call with her father on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.
Gonzalez talks with her dad in a video chat, mandated by the court in Chihuahua, Mexico, in her New Castle, Colo., home on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. Gonzalez, who can choose whether or not to talk with him, usually decides not to.
Meixueiro waits for her daughter to get out of school in Glenwood Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.
Meixueiro calls in her daughter and a friend from playing on the trampoline to leave for gymnastics practice at her home in New Castle, Colo., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.
Meixueiro and her daughter embrace after she gets out of school for the day in Glenwood Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024.
