Valentina was seven when Ivonne first went to jail in Ecuador for selling drugs. Nine years later, as Ivonne faces another prison sentence, they discuss the trauma of living apart – and their lasting bond
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ix months ago, 16-year-old Valentina was watching TV with her cousin and younger brother at her home in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, when she received a call from her mother, Ivonne. She had been arrested again, and was in prison. She wouldn’t be coming home for a while.
The pair had been living together since Ivonne’s last prison sentence ended in 2023, and the thought of being separated again was devastating.
“I had gotten used to being with her,” says Valentina. Over the next few months she regularly burst into tears, at home, with her friends, even during school lessons. “I cried a lot,” she says. “I dreaded going to school.”
