Rescuer was woman's last hope in Haiti: 'We told her we won't leave'

[undeterred]

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- A sweet sadness blankets Hector Mendez's face, appropriate, perhaps, for a middle-age man who has seen suffering and miracles at once. Many other rescuers have left the Haitian capital, no hope left in their hearts 15 long days after the massive earthquake that ravaged this country and entombed so many in the rubble.

But not Mendez. Every day for more than a week, he has stepped down into the dark crevices of a destroyed building to look for two people: Daniel Varese and his 4-year-old son Mateo. Mateo's mother, Marylinda Gonzalez Davi, a United Nations employee from Guatemala who has been living in Haiti for four years, was at work when the earth shook violently on January 12. Rescuers pulled her 1-year-old daughter Fabiana alive from the rubble, but there was no sign of her husband and son. She refused to believe they were dead.

Word of her plight reached Mendez, who had arrived in Port-au-Prince with a team of 25 Mexican rescue workers. "We told her we won't leave. We will stay by her side," Mendez said. He has a grandchild the same age as Mateo.

His orange jumpsuit dulled by dust, Mendez and his crew made camp adjacent to the rubble of the landmark Hotel Montana. They slept out in the open, with Gonzalez and her friend. They took short naps to re-energize. Then they went back in to search.


Good story, sad ending: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/28/haiti.rescuer/?hpt=C1

[Xipe Totec]

1. Hector (El Chino) Mendez is Major General of The Topos; The Mole Men of Mexico

Mexico's elite Search and Rescue brigade.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x29574

[undeterred]

3. Sounds like a wonderful man.

Nice to hear about the international heroes.

[malaise]

2. Too sad

:cry:

[stray cat]

4. Mateo was in his father's arms - very sad but such awesome work and compassion by the rescuers