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Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico., (September, 2011) –

The entire city was decorated to celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day. Flags, banners and signs are everywhere. Nowhere is there a sign of the cartels. Nowhere are there discussions about the concern of a problem at tonight’s huge celebration in the plaza.

The plaza was filled with families, children, vendors and music. People danced in the plaza to the music and children ran around chasing each other and played games. The entire celebration is a testimony to the reality of this border city.

Although members of the Zeta cartel are undoubtedly in the city, there is no fear of violence or impending doom. Traffic entering the town from Del Rio, Texas was heavier than usual. Many of the people have relatives living in Acuña and remain very informed about safety issues. Obviously, they feel comfortable enough to come to the city for the night-time celebration.

The police and military confirmed that there are no reports of violence.
This year’s Independence Day celebration in Mexico is another sign that much of the fear is simply the product of sensationalism in the media about the cartel violence across the country and in cities hundreds of miles distant from Acuña.

About Paper Houses Across the Border

Founded by a Houston Police Sergeant in 2002, Paper Houses Across the Border is an elite nonprofit that uses no paid employees. Paper Houses works to help the working poor living among the impoverished colonias along the Texas/Mexican border – especially in the colonias of Acuña, Mexico. Paper Houses works directly with the families in need and strives to help them in ways that allow the poor to help themselves and escape from poverty.
Paper Houses Across the Border’s programs help families and communities to solve their own problems. We try to provide ‘the little extra’ needed as the poor themselves engage in the real work of lifting themselves out of poverty.

Paper Houses Across the Border feeds thousands of school children after seeing that the children arrive at school too hungry to concentrate.
Paper Houses provides monthly support to shelters for children, recovering drug addicts, and help parents to provide life changing and life saving medical care that otherwise would be unavailable.
www.paperhouses.org

Paper Houses Across the Border believes that small independent charities, with no government ties provide the fastest and the best help to impoverished communities.
Paper Houses Across the Border believes that the drug cartels are a very small part of the situation in the colonias of Mexico and refuse to abandon the working poor in the colonias.