by CLAYTON CONN
November 30 a caravan of some 43 mothers of disappeared Central American migrants left Guatemala City for Mexico in search of their missing loved ones, some whom have been missing for nearly 30 years. The Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, and Honduran mothers are making their ninth trip through the Mexican Republic for a two-week, 4,000-kilometer journey that will follow migrants’ routes through 15 states. Their objectives remain the same – finding their children and demanding that Mexican authorities do more in guaranteeing the safety and protection of the estimated 323,000 Central American migrants that cross into Mexico each year.
Named in honor of “Doña Emeteria Martínez”, one of the founding mothers who passed away this year after reuniting in 2010 (after 20 years) with her missing daughter, the caravan is being accompanied and organized by various migrant rights organizations such as Movimiento Migrante Mesoamerican (MMM), human rights activists, and religious organizations.
Much of this year’s route focuses on the “Pacific route”: passing Guadalajara, Jalisco; part of the Gulf route, passing Tabasco and Veracruz; and crossing the central and southern states such as Chiapas and Oaxaca. Organizers are targeting foco rojo (flashpoint) zones where migrants riding the beast (freight train) are often kidnapped, murdered and extorted by organized crime or even corrupt migration and law enforcement officials.
Anita Celaya, a mother from El Salvador whose son disappeared 11 years ago crossing Mexico for the US, expressed in an event organized by the online magazine, Desinformémonos on December 9th, “It is incredibly difficult knowing everyday that your son is missing, but what is worse is when you come here to Mexico and see the conditions and the horrible things that migrants go through and endure.” She went on to say that “there is a fusion between the criminal gangs and the migration authorities…we don’t need to talk more about organized crime, but rather authorized crime.”
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