I left home at 15. It was one of those crazy situations where I just had to get out. I first found a job in a fabric store and for a little while lived with an aunt. Then, at 16, I moved to Juárez and entered the maquiladora (assembly factory). Back then you could get a factory job with just a primary school diploma and a birth certificate.
I started out in the warehouse of a plastic lens factory. We packed the lenses up and sent them off to China, where the frames were added. It was light, office-like work. I liked it. Since then I’ve worked in a lot of different maquiladoras, always maquiladoras. The pandemic changed that. At first they made me take unpaid leave. Then they asked me to work but didn’t pay the full amount – sometimes half, sometimes even less. Finally I quit.
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