Luis Ángel was 11 years old, had a 9.8 average, and an idea that had not occurred to any adult. In June 2020, while the pandemic left his mother Susana Martínez without her gelatin and flan business in Los Reyes La Paz, State of Mexico, the boy took his favorite toys, wrote a sign by hand, and stood on the corner of Cuauhtémoc and Frontera, Roma neighborhood, Mexico City: “I trade toys for groceries”.
It was not easy. When passersby started taking his toys, Luis Ángel would sit on the ground so he would not have to watch them go, and even so he cried. There were times when his family ended up eating only tortillas with salt. But he held on. Neighbors and pedestrians responded with cash and bags of groceries, and by nightfall the boy was able to fill the pantry and keep some of his treasures.
Days later came a twist no one expected: SEDENA, having learned of his story, visited him with soldier and YouTuber Alexa Bueno and Captain Rivas. They gave him a crimson beret and a vest from the Parachute Rifle Brigade, because Luis Ángel’s dream—always—has been to be in the military. 🎖️
