Mexico City. Can the horror be summed up? The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) did so in a one-minute piece that it spread on social media: “Known outside Mexico as the Tamaulipas massacre, it was an atrocious crime committed against migrants between August 22 and 23, 2010 in the Ejido del Huizachal, Tamaulipas municipality of San Fernando.
“The victims, 58 men and 14 women from Central and South America, were shot from behind and their bodies were later piled up and left out in the open.
“According to Mexican authorities, the migrants were kidnapped by criminals and taken to a ranch where they were forced to work for the group. When they refused, they were killed. At least two people survived, including an Ecuadorian, who pretended to be dead.
so that they wouldn’t finish him off.
“For the families of the victims, the responsibility of the Mexican State in preventing these events is evident, especially considering that the CNDH had already warned in a report about the serious situation of migrant kidnapping.”
The CNDH piece is accompanied by images such as the placement of a memorial on Paseo de la Reforma: a monument with the number 72, for the number of victims.
Fourteen years after the massacre, relatives of the victims and civil organizations that have supported them recalled that full reparation for the victims is still pending and that in three six-year terms – including the current one – there have only been “unfulfilled promises.”
For two days, human rights defenders and relatives of the victims analyzed the progress – or lack thereof – in both the investigations and the care of the bereaved.
The main conclusions were summarized by Yesenia Valdez, from the Foundation for Justice: “We are not in the same place (as we were 14 years ago), we are worse off. The immigration policy is leading us to situations where not only are such atrocious events like massacres continuing to repeat themselves, but there is also a constant risk” for migrants crossing Mexico.
Valdez added that the case remains unpunished, not only because there are no convictions but also because of the “deficient” investigations by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), which show its lack of autonomy and independence.
Fabienne Cabaret, also from the Foundation, stressed that the lives of the victims’ relatives were turned upside down by the events, as they have not only suffered the pain of the loss but also their precarious finances, as there are cases in which they have had to take charge of the debts incurred by their loved ones in order to emigrate.
Lorena Cano, from the Institute for Women in Migration, reviewed the measures provided for in the victims’ law and their lack of correspondence with the actions of the authorities.
Where everyone sees pain, he said, the authorities see people who “want to take advantage” of their status as victims. Cano warned about the “normalization of violence.” 14 years after the Massacre
From San Fernando, he said, “We are very far from having achieved a measure of reparation, for example non-repetition, because there have been other massacres since then. Migrants continue to suffer this passage through Mexico, which is increasingly expensive and violent. Now, the National Guard has also joined in
to contain migrants in a criminalizing manner.”
Gustavo also participated in the panel. He was only four years old when his mother, Maira Isabel Cifuentes, was murdered in Mexico. The young man grew up in the care of his grandmother, who died in 2012, and recently decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and emigrate to the United States.
“It’s been a long time and things are not looking clear at all…” she managed to say during the broadcast, before tears prevented her from continuing to speak.
Lorena Cano, who put several points on the i’s, recalled that the victims’ law was approved in the context of the “war against drug trafficking” and that “it was intended to be exhaustive” and therefore considers many elements in favor of people who have suffered violations of their rights. “But as
Many other laws in Mexico lack funding.”
#years #San #Fernando #case #worse #activist
– 2024-09-02 11:10:08
