Relatives Of Disappeared Persons In Guanajuato Demand That AMLO Recognize Crisis Of Violence

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

On Monday morning, mothers seeking Guanajuato, who walk on foot and shovel long stretches of land, held a protest outside the enclosure of the National Palace, in Mexico City, in order to demand that the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, provide support to the relatives of missing persons, investigate clandestine graves, recognize the crisis of violence, and hold a public hearing, in which they can expose their needs.

During the protest, a cargo truck placed debris and dirt in front of the National Palace, where the search mothers arranged photos of their children, search posters, badges, cardboard with the phrase: "If Andrés Manuel doesn’t come to the graves, the graves will come to him" and carried a symbolic search, in which they moved stones with shovels as they do every time they travel the long stretches in the hope of finding a clue, clothes, or human remains. 

After that, some seeking mothers took a loudspeaker to get the president's attention. "Andrés, I'm out here, looking for my son. Mr. President, have a little respect and go out and see how many mothers keep crying. Many for fear didn’t come, we ask him to go out and see," said one of the mothers, who held a sign with the face of her missing son.

Currently in Mexico there are 95,98 missing persons, of whom 23,655 are women and 71,433 are men. Most of these events occurred in Guanajuato, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, State of Mexico, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, and Mexico City when the victims were between five and 25 years of age, according to the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons.

Likewise, the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights reported that the Mexican press documented 564 clandestine graves of which 1,729 bodies of people and 44,758 remains or fragments have been exhumed in 23 entities, while the "Citizen Platform of Trenches" (a project carried out jointly by groups of families of disappeared persons) registered 2,357 clandestine graves in the country until September 2021.

In a statement, the seeking mothers explained that the current administration doesn’t want to recognize the crisis of disappearances and clandestine graves in the country, an example of which is that the president asked the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (UN) for "repairs" evidence during his visit to Mexico, that disappearances are a problem in Guanajuato and in the country. 

The Committee responded that disappearances exist, are systematic, widespread, and prevail due to the impunity exercised by the authorities.

They detailed that they requested a meeting with the president on several occasions, however he has not agreed, despite the fact that disappearances don’t stop, more clandestine graves are located, and more relatives are forced to join the search because the State doesn’t comply with its obligations and access to justice is inefficient.

 "Our life is based on searching for our loved ones among thousands of missing people, looking for them alive in places of extermination, we have witnessed horror."

Faced with this panorama, they decided to take this day to the National Palace a little of what they see in the clandestine graves. "We get tired of asking for hearings with deaf ears. We are tired of burying our loved ones when we want to embrace them, because digging up love also meant digging up the truth, because it has been ignored by our pleas," they added.

They demanded that the president of Mexico recognize these two problems, reconsider whether the militarized security and combat strategy against fuel thieves is correct; guarantee the safety of seeking mothers, hold work tables with the three levels of government, strengthen communication between the Attorney General's Office, the Guanajuato State Prosecutor's Office and the families of the victims; and respond to and follow up on the observations of the UN Committee Against Forced Disappearances.

It is necessary to mention that a few days ago, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances held a series of meetings with relatives of the disappeared, organizations and authorities in Chihuahua, Mexico City, Coahuila, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, State of Mexico, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Veracruz, states where disappearances are most recurrent.

In these entities, the Committee recorded that all the testimonies showed that revictimization is one of the main obstacles for which people are not sought and families don’t access justice. In addition, the Committee affirmed that disappearances are an existing issue that must be addressed through a prevention, care and eradication policy.

"The victims are not a political booty, we have needs and pain that deserves respect and attention. Guanajuato deserves comprehensive policies to prevent and address violence and crimes that fall within the federal level. Stop washing your hands or blaming yourself between the different levels of government! We demand answers," the mothers concluded.

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