Mexico: ten years after the Tamaulipas massacre, where are we?

Activists place a monument to mark the 10th anniversary of the massacre of 72 illegal refugees in San Fernando, in front of the American embassy in Mexico City, August 22, 2020. Pedro PARDO / AFP

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In Mexico, this weekend marked a sad anniversary. Ten years have passed since what is now known as the San Fernando Massacre. In August 2010, 72 migrants from Central and South America were, according to the official version, shot dead in Tamaulipas, near the border with Texas, by the violent Zetas cartel after refusing to pay a ransom or join their forces. ranks.

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With our correspondent in Mexico, Alix Hardy

This weekend a new monument appeared on Reforma Avenue in Mexico City. A 7 and a 2 mounted on a base which says in capital letters: “  Migrating is a human right  ”. On Sunday, Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the families of the victims, "  who are still waiting for justice to be done,  " he said from the Vatican.

Ten years later no one has been convicted in the case despite global outrage and the arrest of 15 people in 2010 and 2012. There are many gray areas. Not all bodies have been identified . The investigation was botched, the motive for the massacre remains unclear and the families of the victims doubt that the remains received are those of their loved ones.

For the organization Fundacion Justicia which defends the rights of migrants, the responsibility of the state in the case must be assessed. According to the Foundation, the state allowed this mass crime to go unpunished even as suspicions hang over the role of the authorities in the massacre.

The killing took place against the backdrop of the war on drug trafficking, an initiative by President Felipe Calderon launched in 2006 that sparked an unprecedented wave of violence.

In Mexico, migrants continue to disappear in silence. According to the UN nearly 500 migrants died last year trying to cross the country. A historically high figure which is only the tip of the iceberg.

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  • Mexico
  • Drug
  • Immigration
  • Criminality

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