Mexico

This Mother's Day, amidst stay-at-home restrictions in both Canada and Mexico, we are in solidarity with the mothers of the disappeared in Mexico as they continue to seek answers to an agonizing question: where are their missing loved ones?

Disappearances in Mexico continue to increase to record numbers. According to the latest figures, more than 61,600 people have been reported missing. Behind that staggering statistic are human beings robbed of all that matters, and family after family tortured by not knowing what happened, where their loved ones were taken and if they are still alive, in need of rescue.

It is thanks to the tireless, caring efforts of families of the disappeared in Mexico - who came together to support each other, formed networks, and then a national movement - that there have been some signs of hope. Legislation, a National Search System and specialized investigators, amongst other advances – none would have been possible without the dedication and bravery of the families, especially the mothers. 

Twelve countries across Latin America and the Caribbean have signed the Escazú Agreement in a major victory for the environment and human rights that should inspire the rest of the region to follow suit, said Amnesty International.

Argentina, Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Peru, St. Lucia, and Uruguay all signed the treaty at the first opportunity today as the UN General Assembly started in New York, while the Dominican Republic and Haiti have also committed to signing in the coming hours.

“The leadership of the dozen countries who signed the Escazú Agreement today should serve as inspiration for the rest of the region and beyond,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. “We urge all other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to promptly follow their example for the survival and wellbeing of current and future generations.” 

September 26 is an important date for defenders of human rights in Mexico and their allies around the world. It marks five years since police attacked buses carrying students from a rural teacher training college in Ayotzinapa. The police took 43 of the students away, never to be seen again. 

Finding out what happened and bringing to justice everyone who played a role is obviously of tremendous importance to the families and classmates of the 43. 

Amnesty International Canada Secretary General Alex Neve is currently part of a delegation of senior Amnesty leadership who are visiting the Mexico/USA border to witness the impacts of US policy on migrants and asylum seekers.|

El Paso, Texas

So many times over the past two years, since Donald Trump’s presidency and assault on the rights of refugees and migrants began, I have asked myself: what more will it take for the Canadian government to agree that the United States is not “safe” when it comes to refugee protection?

And while I do not have the answer yet, as the accounts of utter contempt for international obligations and the lack of even a minimal sense of compassion mounted during our visit to Tijuana, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez this week, as a Canadian I felt a deepening sense of shame that this remains an open question.

What more will it take?

Amnesty International Canada Secretary General Alex Neve is currently part of a delegation of senior Amnesty leadership who are visiting the Mexico/USA border to witness the impacts of US policy on migrants and asylum seekers. 

Tijuana, Mexico

We began the day walking across the border between the United States and Mexico, separating San Ysidro, California and Tijuana. We ended the day back at that exact same border post, accompanying three courageous LGBTQ teens from Honduras as they sought, against considerable odds, to lodge their asylum claims with US officials.

In between we had ample occasion to see and hear firsthand that despite Donald Trump’s toxic rhetoric, the only crisis that is playing out along this frontier is a politically-driven one that spreads distortions and fear on the backs of people – mainly, but not only, from Mexico and Central America – who are fleeing terrifying persecution, endemic violence and grinding poverty.

It is a crisis of conscience, compassion and justice.

It was a day of powerful solidarity and deeply appreciated action across borders, in support of families in Mexico facing what can only be described as a nightmare.

May 10 is Mother’s Day in Mexico. A day for family celebration. But not for the ever-growing number of families whose sons or daughters have been taken away and made to disappear, while authorities have turned a blind eye. For these families, May 10 has become a day to take to the streets, make visible their pain, and call for action.

This year, they asked us to speak out with them. And speak out we did!

It began first thing in the morning in Ottawa, as a delegation led by Executive Director Jayne Stoyles, knocked on the doors of the Mexican Embassy and delivered 36 white flowers to Mexico’s Ambassador in Canada, honouring the more than 35,000 people reported disappeared in Mexico.

 

More than 35,000 people are now reported disappeared in Mexico! It’s a staggering number that continues to climb every day.  

One of the most notorious cases involves 43 students who were taken away by police in September 2014 and never seen again. The government’s “investigation” has failed to find the students, and is widely accused of covering up an extensive web of complicity involving authorities at all levels of the Mexican state.

Hilda Legideño continues to search for her son Jorge Antonio, forcibly disappeared with other students of Ayotzinapa on September 26, 2014 Photo by Scott Brennan