Mother’s Day is no time for celebration for women whose children are among the more than 60,000 missing people in Mexico.
Mothers of missing children in Coahuila marked the May 10 holiday by protesting against authorities that they allege have failed to carry out thorough investigations into the disappearance of their sons and daughters, while a group of women in Sonora held a vigil for their absent offspring.
In Torreón, Coahuila, members of a group made up of mothers of missing people gathered at the so-called “tree of hope” in the Alameda Zaragoza park on Sunday to protest against the ineffectiveness of searches carried out by state and federal authorities.
They declared that Mother’s Day is not a day of celebration for thousands of Mexican moms who don’t know where their sons and daughters are.
“Our hearts are the same as the day they were taken,” María Elena Salazar told the newspaper El Universal.
She said there was no way they could celebrate when they can’t give their children a hug or receive the love and affection their sons and daughters once showed them.
About 250 kilometers to the east in the state capital Saltillo, mothers, grandmothers and aunts of missing people took to the streets to participate in the ninth National March for Dignity and Justice for mothers searching for their disappeared sons and daughters.
They demanded that both state and federal authorities speed up their investigations into the disappearance of their loved ones. The women accused the Federal Attorney General’s Office and the National Search Commission of failing to update most family members about the progress made in searches for missing people, claiming that officials only meet with a select few people and organizations.
Marches and protests were also held in other states including Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Veracruz and Mexico City, where more than 50 women defied the stay-at-home recommendation to walk from the Mother’s Monument to the Angel of Independence on Reforma Avenue to draw attention to their cause. Other protests took place on Saturday in Jalisco.
In Hermosillo, Sonora, a group of mothers held a vigil on Saturday night for their missing children. The women gathered outside the State Human Rights Commission, where they lit candles, put up photos of their missing loved ones, joined hands and prayed.
“They were taken alive, we want them back alive,” the women said, a refrain that rose to national prominence after the abduction of 43 teaching students in Iguala, Guerrero, in 2014.
They too said they was no cause for celebration when the whereabouts of their sons and daughters remained unknown.
“Son, I will look for you until I find you,” said Cecy Flores, leader of the Sonora Madres Buscadoras group. Her son, Marco Antonio, has been missing since May 2019.
“We’re not demanding justice, we just want our children back,” Flores said.
Source: El Universal (sp)
