California Girl Sold Into Marriage
California Girl Sold Into Marriage
Cash, beer, meat part of deal
AOL News reports that a 36-year-old father has been taken into custody after plans to trade his 14-year-old daughter for marriage went awry. Greenfield, California, resident Marcelino de Jesus Martinez reported his daughter as a runaway; all the while she was residing with the man to whom Martinez sold his daughter for $16,000, 100 cases of beer, and several cases of meat.
Now, before we get all judgmental, we need to know the facts: Martinez and the soon-to-be-groom, 18-year-old Margarito de Jesus Galindo, are members of the indigenous Mexican Trique community.
The members of the once-tribe have remained close, even retaining their Trique language. (Many are employed by California's produce harvesting industry.) Arranged marriages of this sort are common within the community, with girls as young as 12. (Although money is rarely exchanged and looked down upon with the Trique community, says AOL.)
Martinez claims the cash served as a dowry, and the beer and meat were for the wedding. Apparently, things didn't go as planned; Martinez enlisted the local authorities' assistance is locating his daughter. No word on whether the girl was a willing participant in the deal.
No, this is definitely not okay. But the immigrant community is largely ignored, swept under the rug — until, that is, something negative arises. To uphold and retain a longstanding heritage — to bring it to another country, especially — is remarkable. It's too bad that probably the most prominent cultural marker of the Trique community will be their child brides.
Martinez is being held and could serve up to one year if convicted.
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