Mexico: Weekly Newsletter
We share an unofficial translation of the excerpt on Mexico within the Weekly newsletter published by Sol Rojo:
Last week, we reported on the first actions called by groups of mothers and families searching for their loved ones following the discovery of the extermination camp in Teuchitlán, Jalisco. In response, the official reaction by the regime has been denial, disqualification, and revictimization, claiming that it was all a setup. The technocrat Claudia Sheinbaum launched the first attacks against the mothers, stating that the allegations were based “on a photograph or some testimonies.” Following this, the president of the Senate, Gerardo Fernández Noroña, has repeatedly backed Sheinbaum’s statements, disqualifying the searching mothers and accusing them of being part of “right-wing campaigns.” The Attorney General’s Office has joined in, preparing a whole show at Rancho Izaguirre, where on March 20, various groups of searching mothers and families entered with official authorization, only to find a manipulated scene, or as they call it: a museum. The old State is creating a unique narrative aimed at constructing a “historical truth” that denies the initial findings of the Guerreros Buscadores collective… “there was no extermination camp, there were no clandestine crematories, there was no barbarity.” The most alarming aspect of this situation is that the searching mothers and families are being placed by the authorities in a condition of high vulnerability, leaving them at the mercy of armed forces, criminal groups, and warlords, who create and destroy throughout the country, filling it with clandestine graves.
Days after Sheinbaum and Noroña’s disclaimers, a video surfaced on social media in which alleged members of the cartel read a statement practically distancing the federal government and questioning the searching mothers for “entering without permission” into a ranch that was supposedly secured. The message read by a masked spokesperson, word for word, aims to legitimize the statements of the federal government. However, according to various analysts, there are doubts about the authenticity of the video, as the appearance of the individuals, their brand-new and clean uniforms, the type of weaponry, and the way the person reading the statement speaks suggest that they could be elements of the Mexican army, whose intention would be nothing other than to instill terror among the searching mothers and families, who already face danger daily in their search for the disappeared. The hypothesis of the Mexican army acting as a paramilitary formation is not strange if we remember the clearly documented events such as the “Olimpia Battalion” used in the Tlatelolco massacre or “Los Halcones” employed in the Corpus Christi massacre, to name just two examples. Nevertheless, the searching mothers and families continue to face this new situation with dignity, doing the work that should actually correspond to the authorities (the search and location of the disappeared). This has gradually led them to connect with various sectors of the popular movement, as evidenced during the recent national vigil and mourning day.
In this regard, comrades from the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) have issued two recent statements, the first titled “Listen,” directed to the artistic and intellectual community of Mexico and the world, calling for a campaign in solidarity with the searching mothers; the second is a letter signed by the National Indigenous Congress (CNI), the EZLN, and various organizations addressed “to the mothers, fathers, and searching families of Jalisco and all of Mexico, to all who search for those who are missing,” calling on other peoples, organizations, and collectives to raise their voices and carry out various actions in solidarity with the movement of searching mothers and families in Mexico. As an organization, we believe this is a correct initiative that should be supported and replicated by the popular movement throughout the country, and we will join this campaign with dedication and revolutionary commitment.
Teuchitlán never again!
Dr. Ernesto Sernas García, present with life!
Sandra Estéfana Domínguez Martínez, present with life!
Because they took them alive, we want them alive!
