Mother's Day: Families of the Disappeared Call for a Responsible Public Policy

MEXICO CITY (apro).- On the eve of Mother's Day, a date on which thousands of relatives of missing persons mobilize across the country, the Movement for Our Disappeared in Mexico (MNDM) called for "recognizing the dimension of disappearances in our country" and for implementing "a public policy from the highest level, with real will and budgets" to address the problem.

Warning that a public policy "without resources or commitments is also another way to disappear," the Movement, which brings together more than 90 groups of relatives of missing persons from 26 states in the Republic, three Central American countries, and the United States, recognized "the openness and listening" of Claudia Sheinbaum's administration to receive proposals from victims' families, "after a six-year term in which our voices were ignored and our demands neutralized."

The MNDM refrained from mentioning that former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador treated the families of the disappeared differently. While he repeatedly met with the parents of the missing Ayotzinapa students, he simply ignored other groups of victims.

During the evening before the Mothers' March, which has been held annually for 13 years from the Monument to the Mother to the Angel of Independence, mothers of missing persons read the MNDM statement, in which they called on society at large to take stock of the crisis of disappearances and consider the challenges that exist.

“Throughout the country, we face weakened institutions: prosecutors' offices without resources, empty laboratories, mass graves filled with unidentified bodies, and thousands of clandestine graves and extermination camps with unquantifiable bone fragments,” the groups emphasized, recalling that the missing “are not numbers,” but “interrupted stories.”

Given the persistence of violence and disappearances in the country, the MNDM called for addressing the problem from "a macrocrime perspective that recognizes the causes and links between crime in the various territories" with the goal of achieving "lasting peace."

The groups of relatives of missing persons emphasized that during the discussions convened by the Ministry of the Interior, proposals were presented to create a Comprehensive National Plan on Disappearances, "which not only addresses the magnitude of this humanitarian crisis, but also strengthens the institutional framework, assumes State responsibilities, and establishes protection mechanisms" for those searching, in addition to designing strategies to prevent the disappearance of persons.

In light of these proposals and the government's apparent willingness to listen to them, the MNDM warned that "true commitment will be measured by concrete action, sustained political will, and compliance with the State's obligations regarding truth, justice, memory, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition."

While emphasizing that coordination between the institutions responsible for addressing the crisis will be crucial, the Movement added that "openness to international collaboration" is also essential.

Therefore, the families of victims of disappearances urged the Mexican State "to listen and engage in good faith with organizations such as the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights," organizations that have supported the families of missing persons.

They added that these organizations have issued recommendations that meet technical specifications and are "a contribution to overcoming this tragedy and building a future of peace and democracy in which people do not disappear for any reason."

During the evening, which paid tribute to the mothers of deceased missing persons, the MNDM called on society to be sensitive to the tragedy and to consider that the searchers seek "a peaceful future" and that mothers should not suffer the disappearance of their children.

“Social indifference abandons us. Therefore, the families of the MNDM are grateful for the solidarity and visibility that society has given to this enormous problem over the past few months, especially in light of the discoveries in Jalisco. We have felt embraced and believe this is a time to come together and work together to put this atrocious crisis behind us,” the families of the missing stated.