April proclamed as the month dedicated to preventing and combating sexual assault and child abuse.

"We need to unite to curb these abuses, children and young people are the best we have and we can not have them hurt," said Salinas. For his part, Judge Valdez stated that the abuse of women is another crime that should be stopped and will make every effort to get it. At the signing of these proclamations were District Attorney Isidro Alaniz, Sheriff Martin Cuellar and Police Chief Carlos Maldonado, and representatives of the Center Against Child Abuse and the organization SCAN.

Only in 2010 a total of 791 cases of abuse and neglect against children were confirmed in Webb County while in Texas were 68,326 cases of this type. Sylvia Bruni, director of the Center Against Child Abuse in Webb, said that they have provided services to more than 6,000 families.

"The most regrettable thing is that it is estimated that for every reported case there are another 10 who fail to report, so we call upon the community to break the silence," she said.

The District Attorney Isidro Alaniz noted that he has a unit specializing in addressing, investigating and bringing to trial persons accused of committing physical and sexual assault against minors.

He called on the community to report any suspected abuse of a child because it is required by law to do so. For its part, the organization SCAN performs different activities during the month of April to educate and prevent sexual abuse, encouraging women to report these cases because there are programs that can help.

At the ceremony of proclamation the case of Consuelo Castillo was presented , a retired lieutenant colonel U.S. Army, who was born in Laredo and spoke about how she was a victim of sexual abuse.

She took the opportunity to present her book entitled "Journey to the Future" and autographed a few.