Words at the Angel of Independence

At the end of the first March in 2012, the families that came from the north, mainly from Coahuila, Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon, to make visible and denounce that the authorities in our states were doing nothing about the increase in the number of disappearances of hundreds of people (13,252 according to RNPED). The mothers of migrants from Central America, along with others, welcomed us in this city. And here, at the Angel of Independence, we asked the federal authorities to respond to these seven demands:

1. Complete attention to the cases, with an URGENT search program, immediately.
2. Immediate federal attraction of all cases.
3. Census of all reports of disappearance, with a report card for each case.
4. Creation of a special sub-procurator’s office for missing persons at the Federal level.
5. Investigation protocol, standardized for the entire republic.
6. Federal program of attention to the relatives of missing persons.
7. Accept all the recommendations of the report of the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances.

In this tenth March, May 2021, where three political parties have passed through the Executive Branch, we are sad to see that these demands have not been met, or if they have been met, they have only been half fulfilled. If ten years ago, the urgent search program and an effective investigation protocol were complied with, we would not be here today. However, this was not the case, and in the report of April 7, the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration Alejandro Encinas Rodríguez, announced that up to that day, there were 85,053 reports of missing persons, that is, almost seven times more than in 2012. Unfortunately, this tragedy now covers the entire Mexican territory.

That is why we do not desist in our march. As long as we do not have our missing loved ones with us, we will continue to tell the Mexican State that its indolence and omission makes it responsible for this humanitarian tragedy.

Statement at the Monument to the Revolution

• Our main demand every day continues to be: Give us back our Disappeared daughters and sons, where are they?
• It is urgent to institute in the Search Commissions all the attributions, personnel, equipment and tools that are necessary so that the Prosecutor’s Office stops being an obstacle in the location of our relatives as it has been for the last ten years.
• Punishment for the officials of the Prosecutor’s Offices that have interfered in the search and location of the Disappeared.

In 2006 in Mexico, the then President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa started a war, a war that continues and in which we, the civil society, are still in the midst of its bullets.
As the years went by, in each of the states of the Republic, we saw how the war approached us until it arrived. In 2009 there were already thousands of Missing Persons all over Mexico, and their mothers were walking alone, crying out in the desert of institutions with indolent authorities, many of those authorities directly responsible for their disappearance or in collusion with those who took our sons and daughters. Faced with this panorama, the Mothers began to meet, to organize ourselves.
In May 2012, the already organized mothers and family members, including mothers of Central American migrants, arrived in Mexico City to organize, together with other family members and collectives, the first «March of National Dignity, Mothers Searching for their Sons and Daughters, Truth and Justice».
The united forces, in other words, the united mothers, began to weave networks and to make more and more visible what was happening, and we united our pains and dignified rage. Since then, our demands were clear. Ten years later, the Mexican State continues with the pending debt: Where are our disappeared daughters and sons?
This March is a symbol of struggle and resistance, but it is also a symbol of much love. During these 10 years that we have walked, this March has been a space of encounters, where we have found ourselves in search of our disappeared loved ones. We have met with ourselves when we have raised our voices to demand our rights, we have met with many people in solidarity who have given us the strength to continue and we have also met with companions of the same pain with whom we have walked side by side, heart to heart; unfortunately, some of these companions have died along the way without finding truth or justice..

In these 10 years, the Mothers and Relatives of Disappeared Persons have worked for all the disappeared and for the State to comply with its obligation to search for them and find them:

• We have participated in the creation of Laws, which are still not being implemented.
• We promoted the creation of institutions for the Attention to Victims and Search, which are not complying with the spirit of their creation.
• We have publicly denounced the bad practices of officials, who continue within the institutions only by changing chairs. This is simulation and impunity on the part of the institutions.
  President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that missing persons are a priority in his government, however, unfortunately we see day by day that, as in previous governments, there is still no political will to implement strong and effective actions to search for them and find them. He can still change course and go down in history as the president who brought the disappeared back home.
  The spirit of the National and Local Search Commissions is to search for and locate all the Missing Persons; when we families created the Law, we sought to separate the investigation from the search so that investigating would no longer be an obstacle in the search for our loved ones; however, in practice, the opposite has been the case. It is urgent to institute in the Search Commissions all the attributions, personnel, equipment and tools that are necessary for the Prosecutor’s Office to stop being an obstacle in the location of our relatives as it has been for the last ten years. And there must be punishments for the officials of the Prosecutor’s Offices that have hindered the search and location of the Disappeared.
  Today, in this «X March of National Dignity Mothers Searching for their Sons and Daughters, Truth and Justice», we continue to demand a real and forceful response to the initial demands, and today, as every day, our main demand continues to be:
  Give me back my son, give me back my daughter.
  Where are they? Until we find them! Because they were taken alive, we want them alive!

CONVOCATORS

Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en Coahuila y en México (FUUNDEC-FUNDEM);
Fuerzas Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos en Nuevo León (FUNDENL); Desaparecidos
Justicia de Querétaro, A. C. y Colectivo de Familias de Guanajuato. RED VERDAD Y JUSTICIA:
Comité de Familiares de Migrantes Fallecidos y Desaparecidos del Progreso (COFAMIPRO)
Honduras, Comité de Familiares de Migrantes Fallecidos y Desaparecidos (COFAMIDE) El
Salvador; Comité de Familiares Migrantes del Centro de Honduras (COFAMICENH); Comité
de Familiares de Migrantes Desaparecidos de Guatemala (COFAMIDEG). Hijos por la
Identidad y la Justicia contra el Olvido y el Silencio H.I.J.O.S. MÉXICO; Comité Eureka; Red
de Madres Buscando a sus Hijos; Familias Unidas en Búsqueda y Localización de Personas
Desaparecidas; Campaña Nacional contra la Desaparición Forzada en México; Comité de
Familiares Detenidos Desaparecidos “Hasta Encontrarlos”; Fundación Lucero de América;
Justicia para Nuestras Hijas; Asociación de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos y
Víctimas de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos en México AFADEM –FEDEFAM
(Guerrero); Agrupación de Mujeres Organizadas por los Ejecutados, Secuestrados y
Desaparecidos de Nuevo León (AMORES), Nuevo León; Unidos por los Desaparecidos de
Baja California, A. C.; Buscando a Nuestros Desaparecidos y Desaparecidas Veracruz;
Colectivo por la Paz Xalapa (Veracruz); Colectivo Colibrí (Estado de México); Colectivo
Solecito de Veracruz; Comité de Familiares de Personas Desaparecidas en México, “Alzando
Voces” COFADDEM (Michoacán); Comité-Familias Unidas de Chiapas Buscando a Nuestros
Migrantes “Junax Ko’otontik” (Chiapas); Deudos y Defensores por la Dignidad de Nuestros
Desaparecidos (Estado de México); Colectivo Familias de Desaparecidos Orizaba – Córdoba
(Veracruz); Familiares en Búsqueda María Herrera, A.C (Distrito Federal, Poza Rica,
Veracruz, Tlapacoya); Familiares acompañados por el Centro de Derechos Humanos de las
Mujeres (CEDEHM) (Chihuahua); Familias Unidas por la Verdad y la Justicia (Chihuahua);
Familias Unidas en la Búsqueda y Localización de Personas Desaparecidas, A. C. (Coahuila);
Familias Unidas por Nuestros Desaparecidos Jalisco (FUNDEJ); Familiares Enlaces Xalapa
(Veracruz); Frente de Víctimas del Estado de Morelos (Morelos); Víctimas por sus Derechos
en Acción (Grupo VI.D.A. Laguna A.C.); Justicia para Nuestras Hijas (Chihuahua); Los Otros
Desaparecidos de Iguala (Guerrero); Colectivo Madres Unidas (Chihuahua); Plataforma de
Víctimas de Desaparición en México (Distrito Federal); Por Amor a Ellxs (Jalisco); Red de
Madres Buscando a sus Hijos, A.C.; Red Nacional de Enlaces; Regresando a Casa Morelos;
Unión de Madres con Hijos Desaparecidos de Sinaloa.; Víctimas y Ofendidos del Estado de
Morelos, A.C.; Voces Unidas por la Vida, (Culiacán, Sinaloa); Buscadoras de El Fuerte y Zona
Norte (Sinaloa); Comité de Familiares y Amigos de Secuestrados, Desaparecidos y
Asesinados en Guerrero; Colectivo de Familiares y Amigos Desaparecidos en Tamaulipas;
Asociación Internacional de Búsqueda de Desaparecidos en México (Coahuila); Familiares
Acompañados por el Centro para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (CEDIMAC) (Chihuahua);
Sabuesos Guerreras, A. C. (Sinaloa y Ext. Oaxaca2); Buscando Desaparecidos México
(BÚSCAME); Siguiendo Tus Pasos (Ensenada, B.C.); Voz que Clama Justicia por Personas
Desaparecidas (Coahuila); Familias Unidas en Busca de una Esperanza (Zacatecas); Madres
en Búsqueda Coatzacoalcos; Guerreras Buscadoras de Sonora; Oaxaqueños Exigimos
Justicia; Uniendo Esperanzas Estado de México; Alondras Unidas en Búsqueda Belén
González; Colectivo 21 de Mayo (Tamaulipas); Búsqueda Colectiva Coatzacoalcos zona sur;
Guerreras en Búsqueda de Nuestros Tesoros (Nayarit); Familias Unidas por la Verdad y la
Justicia (Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua); Las Rastreadoras del Fuerte (Sinaloa; Buscadores Fe y
Esperanza (Sinaloa); Mariposas Destellando Buscando Corazones y Justicia (Estado de
México, CDMX, Guanajuato, Nayarit); Guerreras Buscadoras de Sonora; Guerreras
Buscadoras de Cajeme; Unidas Siempre Buscando Firma; Unión de Madres con Hijos
Desaparecidos Sinaloa Años 70s; Amor, Esperanza y Lucha Zacatecas; Mariposas
Destellando Buscando Corazones y Justicia (Estado de México, CDMX, Guanajuato, Nayarit);
Colectivo Unidos por la Paz (Veracruz); Juntos por Hidalgo; Juntos por Quintana Roo;
Oaxaqueños Unidos Exigimos Justicia; Buscadores de Sueños y Esperanza; Todos somos
Iguales (CDMX); Buscando Corazones Perdidos (Xalapa); Buscadoras de Nuevo León; Unidas
por el dolor (Culiacán, Sin.); Grupo Civil de Búsqueda, AC; Colectivo Pirasol de Cd. Valles;
Madres Igualtecas en busca de sus Desaparecidos; Colectivo por la Paz Xalapa, AC; Sara
González Rodríguez; Rastreador@s Nacionales de Desaparecidos (RANADES); Grupo de
Acción por los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Social; Unidas por Amor a Nuestros
Desaparecidos Poza Rica; Unidos por la Paz Veracruz; Voz de los Desaparecidos en Puebla;
Diez de Octubre (Parral, Chih.) Madres y padres de los 43; Familiares Caminando por Justicia
(Michoacán); Buscándote con Amor Estado de México. (Algunos de estos colectivos son
integrantes del Movimiento por Nuestros Desaparecidos en México MNDM).
ORGANIZACIONES CIVILES Y ACADEMIA ACOMPAÑANTES Y SOLIDARIAS
Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho; Centro de Derechos
Humanos de las Mujeres (CEDEHM) Chihuahua; Centro de Derechos Humanos Victoria Diez
en Guanajuato; Centro para los Derechos Humanos Fray Juan de Larios en Saltillo; Casa del
Migrante Saltillo; Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte en Ciudad Juárez; Mexicanos
en el Exilio; Comisión de Solidaridad y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, A. C.
(COSYDDHAC); Comité Cerezo México; Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad;
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de las Casas; Libera Asociaciones, Nombres,
Números contra la Mafia (Italia); Casa Xitla; FUNDAR Centro de Análisis e Investigación;
Nuestra Aparente Rendición; Servicios y Asesoría por la Paz (SERAPAZ); América Latina
Alternativa Social (ALAS) integrado por 11 países: México, Guatemala, Bolivia, El Salvador,
Colombia, Argentina, Brasil, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua y Perú; Cauce Ciudadano A. C.;
Red Retoño para la prevención social de la delincuencia organizada; Espacio Libre
Independiente Marabunta A.C.; Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan;
Comité Monseñor Óscar Romero; Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo, A.C. (CEPAD);
Taller de Desarrollo Comunitario A. C.; Comisión Mexicana de la Defensa y Promoción de
los Derechos Humanos (CMDPDH); Centro de Capacitación Integral y Desarrollo Integral de
la Familia AC; Centro para el Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer, A.C. (CEDIMAC) (Chihuahua);
Colectivo Huellas de la Memoria; Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia,
AC; Instituto de Investigación y Práctica Social y Cultural; Centro de Derechos Humanos
“Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez”, A. C.; Colectivo Oxlajuj Q’anil; Red Nacional de Organismos
Civiles Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos (Red TDT); Amnistía Internacional México;
Consultores por la Paz; Licenciatura en Derecho de la Universidad Iberoamericana Torreón;
Observatorio Sobre Desaparición e Impunidad en México; Karina Ansolabehere,
investigadora IIJ -UNAM/ FLACSO-México; Red Latinoamericana contra la Desaparición
Forzada (Integrada por colectivos y ONGs de Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador,
Argentina y México).