The Battle for Elena Santos

On May 14, 2011, the Zetas executed 27 peasants in northern Guatemala. The massacre was followed by the murder of the Quetzaltenango’s DA’s Assistant, as a warning to the Guatemalan government. As a result, pressure from the US government to dismantle the drug trafficking networks in the Central American country increased. As well as the capture of people supposedly linked to them. Elena Santos was one of them, except that she was not linked to any network and there was no evidence against her other than the testimony of a man who months ago had bought a car from her. Elena was innocent.

Her conviction was the result of a well-presented case and a defense unable to foresee and prevent the outcome: a 16-year sentence for illicit association and bearing arms without a license. A year after her imprisonment, Elena became involved with Serigrafía de la Gringa. At first she didn\’t like the job, she just signed up for the vocational course to kill time.

And it was in time and thanks to her leadership and tenacity, that not only she grew within the company but also fell in love with the work she was doing inside. To work in Serigrafía you have to submit an ordinary job application, as you would out of jail. The requirements are clear: six months without consuming any type of drugs and having a certain level of education or a commitment to continuing your studies. Upon being accepted, you start a vocational training course and an induction to learn how to use the screen printing techniques. Before going to jail, Elena had been married and gave birth to a daughter.

Divorced at 22, Elena believed her failed marriage would be her biggest battle. But sitting in the Serigrafía workshop, forming part of a circle of women who were sharing their stories, Elena understood just how wrong she had been before. While imprisoned, Elena was deeply depressed. She couldn’t accept her sentence and had lost all faith in the judicial system. She felt defeated but determined to work. She needed an income to support her daughter and being able to occupy her days with work made them go by faster.

Elena slowly learned the operational side of the project and gained the trust of her boss and coworkers. She was elected to represent her prison sector before the prison authorities and to her, Serigrafía became a beacon of hope, a way to give purpose to her time and her life inside. Her mood changed, she was no longer bitter and angry, she had regained hope. In Guatemala, the prison system rewards incarcerated people who choose to work in projects inside the prisons, reducing their sentences by up to half. They call it Redemption. And Elena\’s redemption came in June 2019, eight years after she was apprehended and convicted.

However, the bureaucracy in the system had her waiting for almost a year to be released. She had almost lost hope but in May 2020, well into the COVID-19 pandemic, Elena found herself outside the prison walls, among the empty streets of a silent, sleeping city. But Elena wasn’t alone.

Unlike most incarcerated people who finish their sentences and regain their freedom, Elena had a job waiting for her outside. This opportunity, along with her desire to go back to university and her determination to give her daughter a better life, gave Elena not only a second chance to achieve her dreams but a solid base to stand on amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic. “I don\’t want to be known for being an ex incarcerated person, I want to be an Engineer. Now I can make my daughter proud” says Elena.

Thanks to Serigrafía de la gringa and to Ashley, Elena has a cause that inspires her and motivates her to fight for her co-workers, she has an income that allows her to support herself and her daughter and has the possibility of dreaming of a better future. Without Ashley\’s project, vision and faith, her chances of reintegration would be almost non-existent. Thanks to Serigrafía de la Gringa, Elena has a second chance at life.