Home » Dictionary » levanton

levanton

levanton
 n.— «During the last 10 years, hundreds of people from Tijuana to Matamoros have been forcibly carted off by heavily armed men sometimes sporting police insignias and uniforms. They are the victims of a style of violence known in border lingo as the “levantón,” which could be literally translated as the “lift” or “pickup.” Occasionally the “levantados” turn up murdered baring signs of torture but frequently they are transformed into memories of agony for distraught relatives.» —“Mexico’s Forgotten Disappeared: The Victims of the Border Narco Bloodbath” by Mark Getty in Ciudad Juárez Frontera NorteSur (New Mexico) Jan.-Feb., 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Further reading

Good Vibrations (episode #1556)

Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...

Deviled Eggs (episode #1554)

Some TV commercials launch catchphrases that stick around long after the original ads. The exclamation Good stuff, Maynard! is still a compliment almost 40 years after it was used in a commercial for Malt-O-Meal hot cereal. And: what do you call...

Recent posts