Parents of missing Mexican students head to Brazil

Relatives of some of the 43 students who went missing in Mexico are in Brazil to seek support from social movements and the population. Following stops in Uruguay and Argentina, they landed in São Paulo on Monday (June 1st), where they talked to journalists. On Wednesday (June 3), they are attending an event at the city center and a public talk with social movements.

To Brazil came four members of the Caravana Sudamérica 43, as the mission became known in a reference to the 43 missing students. The group will also stop by Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. “We want Brazilians to realize what's going on in Mexico and what we've been through. Our country is not a dictatorship, but people are dying and going missing. Our fight won't end when we find our boys. We demand justice. State crimes are globalized, so we must globalize resistance and fight as well. We're all one blood color, we're brothers and sisters, and we must stand up and fight together,” said a member, Francisco Nava.

What they ask for is popular support rather than governments, which they claim are not reliable. “We are seeking support from organizations, from the press, and from the people. All we want is to find our boys and keep fighting. Enough of impunity. There's so much going on Mexico, and they don't do anything about it. How many military officers have been arrested? None. Only shattered peasant families and poor people,” Nava said.

On May 26, it will have been eight months since young people went missing in Iguala, 200 km from Mexico City. The case shocked the country and raised international concern. According to Naya, the incident was “an extermination war on the population at large. Humble people who make their voices heard and stand up for their rights. But we won't accept impunity, we'll keep fighting in memory of those who died,” he said.

So far, there are no clues about the missing students. “We have marched and protested, but we're still left unanswered. We're still looking for our dead, and we want them [the State] to show us [where they are]. As parents, we won't give up searching. We won't be cowed,” said Hilda Rivera, mother of one of the missing students.

Translated by Mayra Borges