A Mexico City police officer, Arizbeth Dionisio Ambrosio, was promoted after breastfeeding a four-month-old baby who was left hungry in the aftermath of Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, Mexico.
Dionisio Ambrosio was among police personnel deployed to Acapulco to assist with search-and-rescue operations and humanitarian relief after Hurricane Otis struck the coastal city as a Category 5 storm on October 25, 2023.
The hurricane caused extensive destruction and disrupted access to essential supplies.
The officer, who was herself breastfeeding her own young child, said she heard a baby crying while carrying out relief operations. She approached the family and was told that the approximately four-month-old infant was hungry.
According to reports by The Washington Post, El Universal and Mexican broadcaster N+, the mother gave Dionisio permission to breastfeed the child after the officer explained that she was nursing her own baby and had breast milk available. The infant reportedly stopped crying after being fed.
Dionisio had left her own child in Mexico City in the care of family members while she travelled to Acapulco as part of the Mexico City Security Secretariat’s Zorros task force.
The photograph of the officer breastfeeding the baby was subsequently widely circulated on social media, drawing attention to her actions during the disaster response.
After returning to Mexico City, Dionisio was summoned by her superiors and received a promotion from Policía Primero to Suboficial in recognition of her service.
Mexico City Security Secretary Pablo Vázquez Camacho announced the promotion, describing the officer’s actions as an example of humanism and service to citizens.
Dionisio, however, played down the recognition, saying she was simply responding to a child in distress. She later told El Universal that she was happy to have helped the family and would have liked to return to Acapulco to see the baby again.
The incident became one of the widely reported human-interest stories to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Otis, highlighting the personal experiences of emergency workers deployed to assist communities affected by the disaster.
Sources: The Washington Post, El Universal, N+, MVS Noticias and Mexico News Daily.
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