Dignity walks in the heart - Freedom Press
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The gist
Freedom Press published a report on Mexican search collectives allying with the EZLN over disappearances.
More than 130,000 people are missing in Mexico, and families say authorities stall investigations.
Background
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) is a rebel group based in Chiapas, southern Mexico. Search collectives are groups of relatives who look for missing people themselves. Freedom Press, a UK-based publisher, reported on an alliance between the two against the Mexican government over disappearances, murders and gender-based violence. The report comes as more than 130,000 people are missing in Mexico after decades of activism and legal battles against systematic violence and enforced disappearances.
How it unfolded
- Jul 30, 2024Alfonso disappeared in Yajalón; his wife Guadalupe Isabel Mondoza Pérez has been looking for him since.
- date unknownTwelve-year-old Ariana left home with her grandmother Miriam Cruz Alpuche in the mountains of Chiapas to care for family animals; both disappeared.
- date unknownTwo days later, the body of 55-year-old Miriam Cruz Alpuche was found on a stream bank, wrapped in black bin bags with multiple signs of violence.
- date unknownBy the end of the week, Ariana Scarlet Velázquez Cruz was found close by.
- date unknownCaptain Marcos of the EZLN spoke in San Cristóbal de las Casas (Jovel) in Chiapas after meeting with "mother seekers" in el caracol Jacinto Canel.
- date unknownThe EZLN and search collectives pledged to form alliances against the Mexican government; they plan to meet in Ajusco in December and send a delegation to Mexico City.
- Nov 10, 2026Freedom Press published "Dignity walks in the heart" on Mexico's search collectives and their alliance with the EZLN.
Key terms
- EZLN
- A political and militant organization controlling territory in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico.
- FGE
- A government body responsible for investigating and prosecuting federal crimes.
Source: Wikipedia
Who’s saying what
- Party
- EZLN Captain Marcos said the demand for truth and justice for disappearances, whether enforced or by individuals, must be assumed a national responsibility.
- Expert
- The Observatorio Ciudadano Nacional del Feminicidio said femicidal violence leaves indelible consequences, deep traumas and an irreparable void in families and communities, and demanded an immediate gender-child perspective investigation.
- Public
- Guadalupe Isabel Mondoza Pérez said the Attorney General's Office (FGE) works to prevent investigations opening, citing omission and a lack of commitment and responsibility.
- Public
- María Tequi, founder of the Guerreras Buscadoras de Guaymas, said "They keep disappearing, they keep killing us. The missing are not absent," and accused the government of making disappearances in Chiapas invisible by claiming missing young men migrated for work.
- Official
- The Mexican government denied the families' testimony, which the article calls "historical fiction."
Still unverified
The article says the documented femicide numbers reflect local groups' activities, not the true scale of the problem, and that government corruption has hidden mass killings of women and children and shows complicity in enforced disappearances.