Luis' mother does love her children, though she can be hard on Luis.
Santo (a loan shark who lent her money to keep her home) is a 'nice man' after he subtly threatens to burn her apartment down, and forces Luis to go back to cage fighting to repay her debt. She is shown to be rather naïve, as Armando, now a drug dealer, has her convinced that he is going to college (as she wants Luis to do) and, as Luis tells Mori Kibbutz during Kibbutz Number One, she once lost a great deal of money in an investment scam. The ones you ain't ashamed of.' These words leave her feeling guilty after Luis leaves the house. During the cutscene of the mission Clocking Off, Luis confronts her about her hypocrisy, to which she hopelessly responds ' What choice do I have? I lost my job!', to which Luis replies with ' Then call one of your other kids for money.
