Two members of the hasta Encontrte collective, made up of mothers, sisters, aunts and relatives searching for their missing loved ones, climbed the Estela de Luz, in Mexico City, to place a blanket and protest against violence and disappearances and express a message.
Protesters faced fatigue and weather, delaying their purpose. Late at night, around 11:00 p.m., they managed to unfurl the blanket.
Below, authorities in the capital and the Red Cross followed up on the events.
After 17 hours, this is how they unfold the blanket of the @HEncontrarte collective.
📹 : @ShareniiGuzman pic.twitter.com/wqpEXrmD3B
— Animal Politico (@Pajaropolitico) September 16, 2022
In the morning, the group of demonstrators formed a chain and held hands around the Stela de Luz, while two members climbed to place a blanket; Marabunta Brigade also formed a cordon around the building.
🔴 Relatives of the disappeared will display a message at the tip of the Stela de Luz, in #CDMX. Since 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday, two demonstrators are climbing; below are human rights defenders and activists.
📹 Video: @ShareniiGuzman. pic.twitter.com/Lu28hTonWe
— Animal Político (@Pajaropolitico) September 15, 2022
On some walls there were messages that said: “When will our independence from the Army.”
“When will our independence from the army?”
Escalation for peace against the escalation of violence and militarism.#EstelaDeLuz#NOaLaGuardiaNacionalMilitar pic.twitter.com/lZfzViOTpk
— Alfredo Lecona (@AlfredoLecona) September 15, 2022
Read: The number of disappeared grows, but not the capacity to find them: they add up to 100,000 amid breaches and impunity
“It’s 20 meters to the top,” police say. This is what the protest looks like in the #EstelaDeLuz which is being escalated at the moment. pic.twitter.com/QMvNC0YL8y
— Alfredo Lecona (@AlfredoLecona) September 15, 2022
From 6:00 in the morning, the two people of this group from Guanajuato climbed the Estela de Luz, a monument that was erected during the six-year term of Felipe Calderón, in 2010.
Protesters carried the 70-kilo blanket; they are part of the hasta Encontrte collective and in almost six hours they climbed 104 meters.
Viviana Mendoza, spokeswoman for the collective Hasta Encontrte, said that “the taking” of the Estela de Luz is for the thousands of disappeared in Mexico.
“We believe that the disappeared and the victims of homicide also deserve to be remembered in this cry for independence,” he said.
“While you make bad decisions without asking the victims of this country, we continue to be killed in the streets. Violence is not fought with the Armed Forces, it is fought with public improvements and intelligence,” the spokeswoman said.
🗣️ Viviana Mendoza, spokeswoman for the collective @HEncontrarte explains that the taking of the Estela de Luz is for the thousands of disappeared in Mexico. The message on September 15 is to remind the authorities and society that today there is nothing to celebrate, he says. pic.twitter.com/eabq8Fvvxi
— Animal Político (@Pajaropolitico) September 15, 2022
The Stela de Luz is a monument that has previously been used to protest the disappeared.
We are relatives of the collective in a peaceful demonstration in the wake of peace to demand an end to the violence in the country. #NiPerdónNiOlvido pic.twitter.com/MirtFil1FE
— Until I Find You (@HEncontrarte) September 15, 2022
“Where are they, where are they!”
Prior to the deployment of the blanket, protesters, mainly relatives of missing persons, shouted slogans such as “Where are they, where are they, our children, where they are!” or “Sir, ma’am, don’t be indifferent, take our children in the presence of the people!”
In addition, they shouted “Long live Mexico, long live the country of the 100,000 disappeared! Justice!”
🗣️ “Where are they, where are they, where are our children?”: minutes after they deploy a blanket in the Estela de Luz to protest for the disappeared, relatives shout slogans.
📹 Video: @ShareniiGuzman. pic.twitter.com/Tk6ZFde35b
— Animal Político (@Pajaropolitico) September 15, 2022
In May, Mexico reached more than 100,000 disappeared people, according to data collected by the National Search Commission (CNB) in the National Registry of Missing and Missing Persons (RNPDNO), in a context in which several mechanisms provided for by the General Law on the matter – of 2017 – have not been launched and while international bodies point out the prevalence of impunity around the issue.
So far, Jalisco ranks first with 14,951 missing people; Tamaulipas, the second, with 11 thousand 971; the State of Mexico, the third, with 10 thousand 994, and Nuevo León, the fourth, with 6 thousand 218. Of the total number of missing and missing persons, 74.7% are men and 24.7% women, although in the last 12 months women have come to represent 30% of the total.
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