Mexico – Vicky Diloné

He’s been stalked by a paramilitary group while investigating environmental conflicts in Latin America. He was invited to dinner by the mother of an MS-13 gang member. He spent an afternoon with the ousted president of Honduras.

This is not the life of some movie character. These are just some of the adventures Jared Olson, a student at Flagler College, has been on.

Photo courtesy of Jared Olson

As a freelance journalist, Olson has been able to travel to many Latin American countries, reporting on social struggles, environmental conflicts, and violence. He said freelancing has given him the opportunity to skip working at a low-level desk job to choose the people and places he wants to cover.

“It’s sort of its own like self-made path,” Olson said. “That’s a total freedom that, for all the stresses of it, is pretty exhilarating and awesome.”

This essay was originally posted to the UI Women’s Center blog on December 3rd, 2018.

As many know, America has a dark side to its history. What is supposed to be the Land of the Free has at times been a country where freedom of choice is denied.

Imagine this, you’re in the hospital after spending hours in labor and are given strong drugs to reduce the pain. The nurse says you’ll need a C-section, but first you need to sign some papers. She won’t tell you what they’re for, only that if you don’t sign them, your baby will die. Even though you are in pain and can’t even read the English, you sign them and they put you under for the C-section.

Months later you’re with your baby boy and happy to start your new life. Then you get the call, you discover were sterilized. During the C-section the doctors also gave you a tubal ligation and whether you wanted or not, you cannot have more kids. This is the reality for many women, most who are in poverty or are immigrants, around the world, even in the United States. Read more

Vicky Diloné

Tag: Mexico

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