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José Luis Beltran is a journalist who graduated from the School of Journalism Carlos Septien Garcia. He is interested in social issues and has three years of experience working in Mexico Evaluates, an organisation dedicated to public policy analysis. He’s a friend of Mexico Mennonite Central Committee.
“Where do the disappeared go,
One seeks in the waters and in the thickets,
And why is it that they disappear,
Because we are not all equal,
And the disappeared returns,
Each time a thought brings them back.”
-Rubén Blades
If it is possible to describe a country’s pain, it is through telling the stories of its disappeared.
On Saturday, the 26th of September, Mexican society will take to the streets to remind their politicians that they do not forget or forgive the attack that took place a year ago in Iguala, Guerrero, by local security elements and members of organised crime against the students of the Normal Rural Isidro Burgos of Ayotzinapa.
Fortunately, if we can use that word in the midst of the crisis in which we live, this new tragedy has not been forgotten, thanks to the insistence and pressure of the families and friends of the assassinated and disappeared students, along with society in general that is crying out ENOUGH. Enough impunity, enough lies, enough everyday tragedy.
A few days ago, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights (CIDH) published a report about the investigations of the case carried out by the Inspector General of the Republic. In the report, the group recommends a general reassessment of the investigation.
A year since the tragedy has gone by and not only do we not know where the young people are, we also do not know exactly what took place or why those detained in this case have not been sentence nor processed for forced disappearance.
There are no simple answers to the multiple problems we face, but we could start by accepting where we have gone wrong. The Mexican State can lay the groundwork so that this tragedy is not repeated with other names and motives. Instead of seeking to construct the “true historical” narrative, the federal government should see this crisis as an opportunity to reform, for good, our security and justice institutions.
The march must be a turning point to demand the truth in the case of the disappeared students, as well as the the other 24, 812 people that the Ministry of the Interior recognizes as lost or disappeared. This is the official data. In reality, we do not know how many more people are also absent.
This Saturday, Mexican society will march to tell impunity that it will not longer be a guest of honour in Mexico, that things have changed, and that the country is not the same.
One year after the tragedy, we want to say that we are not resigned to oblivion and silence.
This video is the testimony of one the fathers of the disappeared from the School in Ayotzinapa, filmed on Monday, January 26th during an interreligious celebration and march hosted by the Centre for Ecumenical Studies, an MCC partner in Mexico. Here is the translation of his speech.
“On the 26th, when they were kidnapped Since that day, we think about them every single morning and night.
We think, where are they? Did they eat? Did they drink water? Are they blindfolded? Are they tied up?
When it is time for me to eat, I do not eat. I do not eat because I think…I also have a picture of my son hung up on the wall.
I stare at the picture. It’s like if he was here, and he is looking at me. I say to the picture, ”Son I am going to eat.” Then I ask him, ”Son where are you, where are you?’ So then I stop eating, I start crying, and I vent out my feelings. Now that I have cried, then I can eat with my wife.
Now that we have both cried, I tell my wife, ”Lets eat.” Our son is not dead he is still alive. Since that day, on the 26th, it has been almost 4 months since he disappeared. We do not know anything about him or where he could be. Everytime that the government shows us movies, all they find are bags of bones, meat, or bags of bodies in the river…”
The Centro de Estudios Ecumenicos (CEE) is a Christian faith-based ecumenical organization that has been in existence since 1968 in Mexico. Their mission is to contribute to the formation and strengthening of collectives as social actors who advocate for justice with equity in public policies and local government; and to be a bridge for ecumenical and theological dialogue between civil and church actors who are committed to transformative processes leading to holistic human development by and for marginalized people, with the aim of attaining a just, equitable and democratic society.
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