Mexico City, Mexico – The International Day of the Victims of Disappearances in Mexico goes beyond a date on the calendar. In the country, more than 110,000 people are missing, a reality that runs through the daily lives of many mothers who have dedicated their lives to finding the whereabouts of their children. It is a constant struggle in which many times they find more obstacles and questions than answers. In addition, the nation is experiencing a forensic crisis, with 50,000 unidentified bodies.
“That feeling as a mother that she gives you, that says ‘something is going to happen.’ I asked him if he was okay (…) He told me ‘yes, mother, don’t worry,’ “says Rosa Isela Velasco between sobs, unable to finish the sentence. The morning of March 4, 2022 was the last time she knew of his son, Cristian Díaz.To date he has not stopped looking for him.
After facing the indolence of the authorities, finally one of those detained as allegedly responsible for the disappearance of his son has declared the existence of a piece of land, in the State of Mexico, where his attackers would have thrown Cristian’s body.
“Look, they already apparently found a skeleton where one of them allegedly says where he left my son, and they already did DNA (tests) on me, but they have not given me results. I know that it will be a great pain as soon as I find out if he is my son or not my son, ”says Velasco.
Cristian is a music lover, they know him as DJ Cris, says his mother. He describes him as very homely, since despite his age he always spends time with the family, he likes to cook for everyone. Cristian is an engineer, graduated from the National University. He is not just another figure, and yet It is part of the statistics of more than 110,000 disappeared people in Mexicoaccording to official records.
Rosa Isela joined the Mariposas Collective, founded in the State of Mexico by Laura Curiel, who for more than eight years has been searching for her daughter Daniela, who disappeared in a context of domestic violence.
The disdain of the authorities has led mothers who are searching in different parts of the country to organize themselves to carry out the search for their children.
“There are compañeras here who know that we have struggled a lot. Because they (the authorities) argue that they do not have personnel, that they do not have resources, the technological and human infrastructure is very little. So these are the biggest problems we face,” says Laura, during a poster-gluing and flyer-distributing brigade in the municipality of Chalco, in the eastern part of the huge State of Mexico, near a technological university.
“They always bet on tiring us out, but the truth is that a mother’s love never tires, nor will it ever tire of searching”
They went as far as to raise awareness in society, within the framework of the International Day of the Disappeared.
“I think this is for society to see that the day exists, that the disappeared persons exist and that families exist,” Laura underlines.
He regrets that the work of the authorities seems to “get tired, tired in the sense that we go around a thousand times to see how the folder is going, for the search, for many procedures, so they always bet on tiring us out, but the truth is that A mother’s love never tires, nor will it ever tire of searching.
With or without life, mothers ask to find their children
It is Wednesday at noon and the heat hits hard in the municipality of Xochitepec, in the state of Morelos. Elvia Ruiz should be working at this time. That is, in fact, the reason why she has not been able to dedicate all her time to the search for her son Édgar, who disappeared in July 2021.
However, this day he decided to take the whole morning to come from the municipality of Jiutepec, 23 kilometers away, to have genetic samples taken, which will go into a large database with the aim of comparing the DNA of the relatives with the of the bones that lie in the forensic medical services without any identification. The crisis is of such magnitude that according to the authorities themselves there are more than 50,000 unidentified bodies in the country.
Elvia knows that by participating in this exercise she could face a fatal scenario, but it has been more than two years without hearing from her son and her desperation leads her to exhaust all the possibilities.
“I would not like news like this, but also, on the one hand (…) It would be the best, to know about my son, to be certain, now I do have to know one thing or another, because for me there are already two long years too”, affirms Elvia while waiting to be treated at the facilities of the new National Center for Human Identification.
Elvia had already had genetic samples taken once at the State Prosecutor’s Office, but the results were not positive. In addition, it was a bitter experience, since she points out that she was revictimized.
“I went to the coroner to ask, but they showed me some catalogs of remains, of human remains, of bones. How am I going to identify my son like that! They tell me ‘Could you see, identify?’ With burned clothes, already undone clothes (…) How am I going to identify my son like that! ”, She recalls with regret.
But this time is different. Upon arrival at the facilities belonging to the National Search Center, they offer him a snack. Then, they take her through an interview with a woman trained to listen to victims. The public servant asks him questions for more than two hours.
Remembering is reliving the pain. Elvia is unable to contain her tears on more than one occasion, but she knows that the intention is to have as much information as possible in order to have elements that will eventually allow her son to be identified, in case his body has been found somewhere. Common pit.
Areli Alatorre is the director of this Victim Investigation and Documentation area of the National Center for Human Identification. She explains that after this interview, a genetic sample is taken from the relatives, with a tongue depressor, so that it can be compared in a massive way and, in the best of cases, obtain a future positive result, after contrasting the data. .
“Once the sample is taken, it will be packaged, it will go through a chain of custody process until it reaches the corresponding areas specialized in genetics, where the genetic profiles of all these samples will be obtained. These profiles will later be returned hand to hand to the people who donated them and they will remain in a database that will constantly be fed with more profiles, and they will be compared with samples that are not identified”, Explain.
The official start of the genetic sampling brigades was in December 2022 in the state of Colima. The states of Nayarit, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Morelos have established collaboration agreements with the National Search Commission for sample collection.
“Step two that we are anxiously awaiting is obtaining these first genetic profiles, to return them to the families so that they can be sure that their sample is being processed. Although, we are not yet telling you where your family member is, this would be step number three”, details Alatorre.
Empathy, a lack among the authorities
On July 31, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador once again made it clear that, despite repeated requests from various groups of seeking mothers, he does not intend to meet personally with them.
The situation “is already being addressed” and the rest “is politicking and publicity,” he said at his morning press conference.
The response was swift and came from one of the mothers, Ceci Flores, who stated through a video: “the seeking mothers who requested a meeting with you have nothing to do with politicking or publicity. I swear to you that the last thing we want is for the absence of our children to be used for undignified purposes.
The activist reproached the federal president that, by making these accusations, he reflects “a kind of apathy, insensitivity.” For this reason, with respect to her investiture, she assures, she asked him that if she does not want to receive them, then they invite him to accompany them on a search day and thus perhaps change his mind and be able to distinguish between despair and politicking .
On this path of pain there are those of us who abandon our lives to look for children and those who abandon their ideals when they come to power. You don’t. Go with us on a search and I assure you that you will be able to distinguish between desperation and “politicking” @lopezobrador_ pic.twitter.com/TjaHquEPPW
– Ceci Flores 6623415616 (@CeciPatriciaF) July 31, 2023
The president’s words hurt a sector that is doubly vulnerable, because in addition to having lost their children, some mothers who were looking for their children have been murdered and others live under threats, as is the case of Ceci Flores, who has warned that “they have put a price” on his head.
The most recent crime against a mother seeker occurred last May, when in the municipality of San Miguel Octopan, northeast of Celaya, Guanajuato, Teresa Magueyal was shot dead.
Magueyal was looking for her son, José Luis Apaseo, who disappeared on April 6, 2020, in that same town. His case joins that of at least four women whose lives have been taken while desperately searching for their loved ones during 2022.
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