Between 12 and 22 May, the Caravan in Search of the Disappeared Alive – made up of collectives from 25 cities and 12 states in Mexico and the US — took place in the municipalities of Torreon, Saltillo, Monclova, Allende and Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
On 10 May, human rights defender and mother of a disappeared daughter Miriam Elizabeth Rodriquez Martinez was murdered in the state of Tamaulipas. May 10 is Mother’s Day in Mexico, and for the last 6 years on this date, family members of the disappeared in different parts of the country have carried out the “March for National Dignity: Mothers in Search of their Sons, Daughters, Truth, and Justice”.
To mark the third anniversary of the mass disappearance which occurred in May 2015 in Chilapa, Guerrero, civil society organizations including the José Maria Morelos y Pavon Human Rights Center, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center (both organizations accompanied by PBI) and the Collective Against Torture and Impunity (CCTI) organized the forum “Victims of a Failed State: Disappearances, Executions and Displacements”, which took place on 11 May in the Congressional Building in Chilpancingo. PBI observed the event.
During the month of April, during the first period of ordinary sessions of Congress, legislative advances were made with regard to the General Law to Prevent, Investigate and Sanction Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading treatment and the General Law on Forced Disappearance and Disappearance Committed by Individuals.
Abel Barrera Hernandez, Director and founder of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, an organization accompanied by PBI, received an honorary mention on 29 March from the Franco Alemán Gilberto BosquesHuman Rights Award.
In April, PBI travelled to Saltillo and Torreon, Coahuila in order to meet with members of the Juan Gerardi Human Rights Center, an organization that has received PBI accompaniment since 2013. On 26 April the organization celebrated 18 years of work promoting a human rights culture through the Jesús Torres Migrant Day Center and the collective of relatives United Forces for our Disappeared in Coahuila – Mexico (FUUNDEC-M).
The second official visit of the Mechanism that monitors the precautionary measures granted to the students of the “Raul Isidro Burgos” rural school in Ayotzinapa (MC 409/14) and the recommendations of the Inter-Disciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) took place between 19 and 21 April 2017.