MIGRATION-MEXICO:
Where Is My Son?
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY (IPS) - Ana Celaya from El Salvador has been desperately
searching for her son Rafael since he went missing in Mexico in May
2002, as he was trying to make it to the United States.
But Rafael is just one of hundreds of Central Americans who have
disappeared in Mexico on their journey north.
"Could he be in jail? Is he alive? I haven’t had any news of Rafael
for seven years, and no one will give me any clear information,"
Celaya told IPS by telephone from the southern state of Chiapas, one
of Mexico’s poorest, on the border with Guatemala.
Two of Celaya’s other three children are living in the United States
and one is back home in El Salvador.
Celaya is one of 26 Salvadoran women who took part this month in the
Caravan of Hope in southern Mexico, a mission aimed at demanding
information on their missing loved ones.
"We have seen that our migrants are mistreated in this country, that
they are attacked, robbed and tortured by both the authorities and
criminals," another member of the Caravan of Hope, Lucy de Acevedo,
told IPS over the phone. "It seems to me that the laws here only
exist on paper."
Her 19-year-old brother, José Salomón, was killed in Mexico in July
2000 by a group of criminals.
De Acevedo is secretary of the Salvadoran Committee of Families of
the Dead and Disappeared. "I got involved in this organisation out
of courage and solidarity," she said.
The Committee has files on 238 Salvadorans who have gone missing in
Mexico since 1997.
The Caravan of Hope held a five-day march earlier this month, with
economic support from two U.S.-based organisations: the Central
American Resource Centre (CARECEN), which provides assistance to
migrants, and the Catholic group Nuestros Lazos de Sangre.
The members of the Caravan of Hope met with officials from the
federal police and the National Migration Institute (INM) in
Tapachula, the capital of Chiapas.
The officials promised to meet with the activists again on Mar. 10,
to present them with a list containing all of the available
information on Central Americans who have been arrested or killed,
or who have gone missing, in Mexico, as well as any new developments
in the cases documented by the women.
"Although there are laws, and the authorities have pledged to
respect them, we see with pain that our young people are assaulted
or go missing here in Mexico and that our women are raped – it is
not fair," said Celaya.
"We hope that what they told us are not just empty words," said
Celaya. "If they live up to their promises, there will be some hope
of finding my son," whose disappearance she reported to the police
over six years ago.
Mexico, a traditional gateway to the United States for immigrants
from Central and South America, and to a lesser degree for people
from Asia and the Middle East, is a dangerous hurdle for migrants,
who face the risk of abuses of all kinds at the hands of criminals
as well as the police and other authorities, according to human
rights groups like Mexicans without Borders and the All Rights for
All coalition.
Like his predecessors, conservative President Felipe Calderón, in
office since late 2006, has promised to take steps to improve
treatment of migrants in Mexico. But the abuses have not been
curbed, as periodic reports of shootings of foreign nationals by
members of the police or military demonstrate.
At the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic
Review on Mexico in Geneva this month, Mexican officials heard
criticism of persistent human rights violations against immigrants,
from the delegates of dozens of countries.
The National Human Rights Commission has described as "tragic" the
conditions faced by Central Americans in Mexico.
The Commission complained that although only INM agents have the
authority to detain undocumented migrants, they are in practice
seized by the police, soldiers and even private security guards,
generally for the purposes of extortion.
Abuses are also committed by criminal gangs linked to "coyotes" or
people smugglers.
Celaya said that a few days after she lost contact with 23-year-old
Rafael, her son in the United States received several phone calls
from supposed coyotes demanding 3,500 dollars to free the young man.
Rafael’s brother "was able to scrape together 1,800 dollars, but in
the end I asked him not to send any money until they put Rafael on
the phone, which never happened. That was the last we heard of him,"
she said.
Celaya did not give up. Shortly after the phone calls, she travelled
to Mexico, just as her son had done before her: without legal
documents and with very little money. But she got lost in Chiapas
and failed to come up with any useful information. She finally
decided to return and continue her search, and to go public with her
struggle, from her home country.
To reach the "American dream," escape poverty and send remittances
back home to their families, Central Americans must get past
increasingly strict border controls, not only in the United States
but in Mexico as well.
For that reason they try to cross the borders in the most remote,
poorly monitored areas, which are also the most dangerous, and where
they are exposed to crime and abuses, according to reports by
Mexicans without Borders and the National Human Rights Commission.
Women are especially vulnerable. "Imagine our young girls travelling
without papers, amidst all the dangers, and being raped and abused,"
said de Acevedo.
In the past, she said, the great majority of migrants were men, but
that has changed as families have broken down and needs have
increased, and growing numbers of young women are undertaking the
hazardous journey.
Celaya said her only daughter, who lives in the United States after
making it through Mexico as an undocumented migrant, "left because
at home she had many problems with her husband. Although I miss her,
it was for the best." |
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