Ayotzinapa and the 43 Disappeared Students—One Year Later

September 26, 2015…the first anniversary of the murder of 3 students and the disappearance of 43 students from the teachers college in Ayotzinapa, here in the state of Guerrero. Everyone knows that police, military, government, and drug gangs were involved in the affair—but everyone also knows that truth and justice are not common commodities here in this state and this country. And family members of those 43 students are no closer to knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones than they were one year ago.

The school shield for the teachers college in Ayotzinapa

Here in Tlapa, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center of the Mountain (a group supported by Mission Mexico) is the legal counsel for the families of the disappeared students. To commemorate this first anniversary of the disappearances, they called for a five-kilometer “pilgrimage” from the diocesan seminary outside Tlapa to the zócalo (main square) of the city of Tlapa and then to a Mass at the cathedral of Tlapa.

Photos of the 43 disappeared young men who dreamed of being teachers

Most of the parents of the 43 disappeared students were in Mexico City today for a national event. But one mother—Calixta Valerio—from the village of Monte Alegre (where I happen to be invited to dinner next Sunday) was present, and she led the pilgrimage. Her eighteen-year-old son, Mauricio Ortega Valerio, is one of the forty-three disappeared students. Her husband, Eleucadio Ortega, is one of the most outspoken leaders of the family members of these disappeared students.

Mauricio's mother, Calixta (in blue), leading the "pilgrimage (Photo by "Colectivo el Grito")

The pilgrimage also involved family members of Antonio Vivar Diaz, a young man who was about to graduate here from a university in Tlapa with a degree in integral community development. He was very involved in solidarity with the families of the 43 disappeared students, and he was killed by federal police here in Tlapa on June 6, 2015. Antonio’s parents, wife and eleven-month-old son, and brother and sisters continue to seek truth and justice for this death.  

Antonio Vivar Diaz—killed by police on the night of June 6, 2015

I suspect (I hope) that even newspapers in Canada will report on this first-year anniversary of just one of Mexico’s many forced disappearances. In a recent report given by Amnesty International, they placed the number of forced disappearances in Mexico since 2007 at about 25,000.

"Pilgrimage" arriving in Tlapa today (Photo by "Colectivo el Grito")

For those who are unsure about just what a “forced disappearance” is—and if this is not a part of your everyday life, I hope you feel grateful—Wikipedia gives the following definition: In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law. Can most Canadians even imagine what it is like to live in a society where "forced disappearance" is an ever-present threat?

Speeches in front of "city hall" in Tlapa

Here in Guerrero the struggle will continue. “Ayotzinapa,” the location of the teachers college where the 43 disappeared studied, means in the native Nahuatl language “place of turtles” (you can see a turtle in the school shield in the first photo of this blog). I read the following comment on a website: Consider the qualities of turtles: tough and enduring, watchful, tidy, quiet and dignified, purposeful, respectful and gentle. Turtles keep trying, plan ahead, love their home territory and are smart. That describes the moms and dads, sisters and brothers, wives and children, grandmothers and grandfathers of these 43 disappeared students. And it describes the hundreds and thousands and millions of others who accompany them in their struggle for truth and justice—and for the simple answer to the anguished question, “Where are they?” "Alive they took them away; alive we want them back!"

Wearing a sombrero with "43" on it is not only a humbling experience—it's a commitment

Many Great things Are Happening

Oh, how the time flies by. I’m not sure if it’s a sign that I am now old or if it’s a sign that lots of things are happening and I’m always busy. Probably both.

Primary school children showed up to wish Father Juan a happy 65th birthday

It was “special” to attend a Mass the other day for Huipi and her family and her schoolmates at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain. As mentioned in my previous blog, eighteen-year-old Huipi was just recently electrocuted.

Huipi's immediate family was present for the school Mass for Huipi

Students, teachers, and parents present at the school Mass for Huipi

And it just so happened that a lot of “good things” occurred last week, and Mission Mexico was present to assist in any way it could. Mission Mexico supports directly many projects in the impoverished mountain region here, but it also “lends a helping hand” to many other efforts working for the same goals in the area.

Coca Cola isn't the best breakfast, but these kids in Plan Ranchito don't seem to mind

Three good friends—incredible human beings—from Mexico City who are involved in a non-profit organization called Alternativas de Vida Solidaria para el Desarrollo y la Paz visited the mountains for several days; they help in many ways, including the marketing in Mexico City of products produced by the indigenous peoples of the mountains.

Claudia, Agustín, and Beatriz—beautiful friends, living saints

And a group of women from Ayutla de los Libres went “into the mountains” and gave a workshop in Agua Tordillo to teachers from a dozen villages on ways to better educate the indigenous children of the region. These women are specialists in “popular education,” and they taught the teachers about the use of “generative words” and other concepts of a liberating education in terms of literacy training. The teachers were very animated after the day’s training.

The women from Ayutla de los Libres who coordinated the teachers' workshop

In Xochitepec, the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit brought in a gentleman (Sergio) to teach a group of men how to make their own candles. Candles are used for both lighting and for religious ceremonies, and this candle-making effort will hopefully offer candles at a better price to the people and offer employment to a cooperative of men.

First batch of candles produced by the men's group

Pope Francis: "Work is sacred and gives dignity to the people."

I say “men,” because this project at the moment involves candle-making by all men. The women opted to begin their own project of opening a community bakery, and that project has quickly become a most popular endeavor in the area.

 

Some of the women at the bakery in Xochitepec

There are lots of other great things happening. These are all signs of hope in the mountains. Of course, since I’m getting old, I tire more easily as I spend long hours on the dirt/mud roads of the region. So I’ve learned that I occasionally have to stop to take a “power nap” when I’m really exhausted.

If you've got to rest, you've got to rest. What do you think those kids are thinking?

So the struggle goes on, with its mixture of bad and good, darkness and light, death and life. Mission Mexico is a respected ally and partner and friend in this struggle, and the people here are most grateful to the Canadian “friends” who allow Mission Mexico to offer this assistance. Thank you from me too; I can’t think of a more wonderful blessing than the opportunity to be here with such incredible, noble people. Have a great week.

A memorial beside the road near Buena Vista for Maria, a mother who was struck by lightning
and died on July 6, 2015; some of the firewood that she was carrying is still at the site

Butterflies are...Tragic Heroes

“Butterflies are nature’s tragic heroes. They live most of their lives being completely ordinary. And then, one day, the unexpected happens. They burst from their cocoons in a blaze of colors and become utterly extraordinary. It is the shortest phase of their lives, but it holds the greatest importance. It shows us how empowering change can be.” 
                                                                                       ― Kelseyleigh Reber, If I Resist

It’s hard for me to avoid thinking of the title of this note. Yesterday a young girl fell to her death here in Tlapa. Her name, in English, was “Butterfly”; in her native mephaa language, it was “Huipi.”

Huipi — Butterfly. Thank you, my friend. I will miss you.

Huipi had just graduated two months ago from the Champagnat High School of the Mountains, the high school run by the Marist Brothers that Mission Mexico has helped to build and to maintain. As the quote above suggests, most of Huipi’s life was “completely ordinary” for the mountainous reality here—her childhood was one of poverty and struggle. Then she did something “unexpected”—something “utterly extraordinary.” She became the first member of her family to go to high school—something that would have been impossible without Mission Mexico. And just last week she did something even more extraordinary: she started classes in the state university. She was going to become a professional.

Huipi dancing at her school graduation in July

On the weekend she came to Tlapa to visit her brother and father. She noticed that her brother had a bunch of dirty clothes, so she took them to the flat roof of the house and began to wash them while she was waiting for her father to show up. When she heard a vehicle stop in front of the house, she ran to the edge of the roof to see if it was her father. It was! But Huipi apparently slipped and started to fall. She grabbed some wires running along the street beside the house, but they carried live current, and she was badly electrocuted. She fell to the street below, beside her father who was entering the house. She was rushed to the hospital, but it was too late. Huipi was declared dead upon arrival.

Mike at the high school with Huipi, Margarita, and Tania

Huipi’s death has deeply affected not only her family but everyone in her village and in her high school. Her three years advancing toward her dream were—as the quote states—“the shortest phase of [her] life,” but she touched many people with her timid yet generous character. She dreamed of changing things in her village. And I daresay that she will do that, just because of her courage to do everything possible to achieve her dream. Her friends are not going to let her dream die.

Huipi helping to set up "Alex's Welding Shop" at the high school

That “dream” that Huipi had is, without a doubt, the same “dream” that the 43 “disappeared” students from the rural teachers college in Ayotzinapa had when they began studying there one year ago. Just yesterday (September 6) an international group of experts belonging to the InterAmerican Human Rights Commission gave a report on the disappearance of those students (on September 26, 2014) that totally contradicts the “official version” that had been given by the Mexican government as it tried to declare “case closed.” For the family members of those 43 students, the case is definitely not closed.

The candles held by the families of the 43 disappeared students symbolize the families' hope

It was an honor to be present last week with the family members of those disappeared students. They had come to Tlapa to participate in the twenty-first anniversary of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center (another project supported by Mission Mexico). The day began with a Mass celebrated by my good friend, Father Juan, for the 43 disappeared students and their families. Perhaps it was appropriate that the feast day being celebrated was the beheading of John the Baptist. It’s not hard to see the parallels between the injustice and impunity present in the death of John the Baptist and the injustice and impunity present in the deaths and disappearances of so many Mexicans who struggle for change.

The struggle to find the disappeared and learn the truth will continue

In 1989 I was working in El Salvador with the El Salvadoran Nongovernmental Human Rights Commission (although almost no one knew that was what I was doing, since I had a “cover story” as a journalist with a small U.S. newspaper; but that’s a whole other story…). The emotions I experienced last week—sadness, rage, determination, hope— in the Mass for the 43 disappeared young men here in Guerrero reminded me of the emotions I experienced in the Mass I attended in El Salvador in November of 1989 for the six assassinated Jesuit priests and their two female helpers. There too the government tried to cover up this massacre that had been committed by its own military forces. Hopefully, the international community will not allow such a strategy to work in this Mexican situation.

The families of the 43 disappeared students were received with cempasuchitl collars;
these marigold flowers are considered the "flower of the dead" but in a positive sense
that the strong aroma will draw the spirits of the departed to return 

As always, the struggle will go on. The family members of the 43 disappeared students call from me the same admiration and respect that Huipi called from me. To end, thinking of the 43 disappeared students and their families, I’d like to rephrase a bit the paragraph that began this blog:

“Impoverished young people are Mexico’s tragic heroes. They live most of their lives being completely ordinary. And then, one day, the unexpected happens. They burst from their cocoons in a blaze of colors and become utterly extraordinary. It is the shortest phase of their lives, but it holds the greatest importance. It shows us how empowering change can be.”

Two heroic persons struggling for that "empowering change": Abel Barrera, president
of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, and Father Juan Molina, parish priest in Xochitepec

Thank you, Huipi. Thank you, Tlachinollan. Thank you, 43 students. Thank you, family members of those students. Thank you, Mission Mexico, for your solidarity with this “empowering change” that so desires to instill gospel values in the lives of all people here. We shall overcome!