Because all of Mexico is Teuchitlán

The following collective letter comes in response to the discovery in early March by searching families of a forced recruitment and extermination camp in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, near Guadalajara. It was translated by Scott Campbell.

To those who are not indifferent to the war:

The discovery of the exploitation, torture, and extermination camp in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, is a small and terrible example of the cruel human crisis that Mexico is living through as a result of the Drug War unleashed in 2006 and that has not ended. The pain of the families of the disappeared reaches practically every corner of the country and extends beyond our borders. At least 124,000 people have been disappeared, a devastating figure because they are not numbers nor entries in a database. They are boys, girls, youths, women, and men torn from their homes and communities. They are people we miss and who forgetting threatens to erase.

Disappearance – any disappearance – is an unjustifiable crime, regardless of its cause or motive, without excuses or nuances. The search – any search – is an inescapable obligation and calls us not to stop until we find them all, to commit ourselves to putting an end to the horror, regardless of what we do, our ideology, and our geography.

The pain, the indignation, and the rage caused by knowing that there are extermination camps in Mexico (although it seems that those from above avoid recognizing that these schools of terror are just that) should not be used by those who provoked this human crisis since 2006 nor by those who claim to have broken with the practices of the past while repeating its vices. Nor by those inside and outside of Mexico who see in the pain a political, business, or interference opportunity.

We are no bots, trolls or mercenary or fictitious voices. We are those who shouted NO when Tlatelolco, when Acteal, when Atenco, when Ayotzinapa. We are those who for decades have opposed militarization and militarism, war, dehumanization, and horror.

We are human beings who do not follow blindly nor condemn by slogan, who will always use our reason to listen critically and our hearts to listen in solidarity, and who will act accordingly in the face of infamy. Don’t confuse us, don’t minimize us, don’t lie to us.

We have seen how the blood that runs through the country and the bones that are hidden under the earth multiply due to a violence – both state and non-state – that does not cease. Meanwhile, the criminal structures inside and outside of the State are strengthened, under the cover of a politics of silence and structural, systemic, and routine impunity that only justifies more war, more death, and more pain. We know that the political figures who allowed the functioning of an extermination camp that today is Teuchitlán, but yesterday was Patrocinio, the Gallera, the Guapota or Colinas de Santa Fe, today enjoy the horror in freedom and with preferential treatment, some in Mexico, others abroad.

To know that today those who were at Teuchitlán may still be alive only makes the rage grow in knowing that every minute counts in finding them. To know that camps like this may be very close to where we are and that nothing happens, that grow with bodies, lives, and broken dreams daily, makes the urge to scream loudly and to do something that defies everything, the political party colors, inoperative institutions, prosecutors who cover up, military accomplices, powerful people who continue to make cowardice and cruelty the most lucrative business.

We call on those who now try to erase, silence, disappear, and use us to stop doing so, because otherwise this rage will grow along with the aberrant figures of death, disappearance, and normalization of the nightmare. To criminalize the disappeared, to underestimate the depth of the pain and the authenticity of the searching families, to minimize their technical ability and searching skills are means to perpetuate impunity and to label the aggrieved as the aggressors. This dynamic means that everything remains in the realm not of human urgency but of political opportunism. This guarantees the reproduction of crimes such as this one because the networks of power involving governments, businesses, and cartels are not exposed.

We are here. We are not bots. We are not trolls. To President Sheinbaum, we say that they are the victims, the more than 124,000 disappeared, not her. Listen to their mothers and fathers, to their brothers and sisters, to their sons and daughters, it is a State debt. They were owed yesterday, you owe them today, they will be owed forever, so long as there is no response. We put on the shoes lying there, piled up and empty, the shoes of the others who are somewhere out there. Their pain cannot be theirs alone. If we let that happen, we will condemn them, we will condemn ourselves to death, because nothing flourishes in hell.

We are beyond petitions, demands, special mechanisms, and technicalities. The searchers’ struggle is the final call of humanity to stop this madness of ambition, death, and pain. After that, there is nothing awaiting us but the grave, for those of us who feel the pain and for those who cause it.

NOT WITHOUT THE FAMILIES!

Signed:

Individuals

Oscar Olivera Foronda, Comunidad del Agua, Bolivia

Italia Mendez (Integrante de la campaña Rompiendo el Silencio, todas juntas contra la Tortura Sexual)

Raúl Zibechi

Michael Hardt

Carlos Taibo

Juan Villoro

Luis Hernández Navarro

Gilberto López y Rivas

Luis de Tavira / La Casa del Teatro.

Jorge Verástegui González

Volga de Pina R.

Alicia Castellanos Guerrero

Sylvia Marcos

Raquel Gutierrez Aguilar

Jorge Alonso Sánchez

Dr. Raúl Delgado Wise

Magdalena Gómez

María Eugenia Sánchez Díaz de Rivera

Juan Carlos Rulfo

Francisco Barrios “El Mastuerzo”

Márgara Millán

Servando Gaja

Ana Esther Ceceña

Carolina Coppel

Inés Durán Matute.

Mariana Mora

Raúl Romero

Argelia Guerrero Rentería. Bailarina

Jaime Pastor Verdú

Pepe Mejía, periodista. Militante de Anticapitalistas

Manuel Garí Ramos

Lucia Linsalata

Nuria Ciofalo

Javier Sáenz Munilla, periodista, España.

Sabrina Melenotte, CIESAS/IRD, México/Francia

Dra Anita Schrader McMillan, Universidad de Oxford, Inglaterra.

Erika Sancruz

Azael Soriano

Alma Rosa Garcia Guevara

Valeria Moscoso Urzúa, Especialista Psicosocial, Docente y Defensora de Derechos Humanos

Nelly Perez Costana, Fundación Abril Cochabamba-Bolivia

Fernando Machicao, Colectivo Yakutantanaku, Cochabamba-Bolivia

Natividad Zurita, Comunidad Casa de semillas Muju Huasi, Cochabamba-Bolivia

Bernardo Bautista Hoepfner, Vietnam

Isabel Lozano Maurer

Francisco Robles Gil Martínez del Río

Genevieve Galán

Eduardo García Vásquez

Anahí García Reyes

Marco A Avendaño Mtz

David Roca Basadre

Evaristo Villar

Pepe Luna

Angel Madina

Juan Ibarrondo, Vitoria-Gasteiz

Celeste Maribel Tamayo Carrera

Iñaki madina

Josune

Koldo Camon Erostarbe

Unai Otxoa de Txintxetru

José Luis Torremocha Martín

Ana Laura Suárez Lima y Deva Esther Suárez Lima

Maite Monge. Vitoria-Gasteiz

Gerardo Pisarello

Txomin Arzallus Egia

Gurutze Morado Ibargutxi

Silvia Villaseñor

Prisciliano Leobardo Sosa Alvarado

Carlos Johari Pérez Herrera

Liliana Souza

David Jiménez

Roberto Contreras «Gato»

Jessica Trejo

Inés Eguino Clavel

Aitor Luna Olivares

Jorge Riechmann. Profesor universitario UAM.

Cristian Salcedo

Matilde Belem Huerta Lastra

Jorge Augusto Chávez Vera

Paulino Alvarado Pizaña

Ariadna Flores Hernández

Lao Tsé López Lozano

Jo James

Ana María Vera Smith

Luis Antonio D. Ordóñez,

Lourdes Valderrabano Teresa

Raúl García Sánchez

Mireya Perea Perea

Ranulfo Hidalgo Albino

Nieves Sanz Álvarez

Mariano Rolón Castelán

Vicente Gallego Ergueta

Yolanda Girón Molina

Guadalupe Solis Ramirez

Dra. Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social. México D.F

Enrique Espinoza Camarena,

Pilar del Carmen Espinoza Höpfner

Carmen Höpfner Boner

Ana María Hoepfner Boner

Cecilia Zeledón/ Universidad de la Tierra en Puebla

María Recolons de Arquer Barcelona

Daniel Batista Hoepfner Londres

Ana Hoepfner en Calgary, Canadá

Bernardo Hoepfner Boner

José de Jesús Legorreta

Virginia Pérez Martínez

Lilia González Espinosa

Guadalupe Ortiz Chávez

Eduardo García Vázquez

Coral Morales Espinosa

Álvaro Quiroz Magaña

Pilar Chávez Ortiz

Benjamín Berlanga

Mercedes Núñez Cuétara Ibero Puebla

Carolina Díaz Iñigo

Itzel López Nájera Ibero Puebla

Patricia Hidalgo Rame

Pilar Salazar

María de Lourdes Covarrubias Velasco

Mario Sabato Magno Italia

Teresita Acquitter Francia

Valentina Soto

Claudia Alonso González, Centro para el Desarrollo de la Mujer A.C. (CEDEMAC), México

Juan Carlos Canales Fernández.

Bruno Baronnet, Universidad Veracruzana

Blanca Laura Cordero. BUAP

Davydd Greenwood

Luz María Sánchez

Roger Maldonado Baqueiro. Comisión para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, A.C.

Jorge Ángel Sosa Márquez, Ibero Puebla.

Oscar Soto Badillo

Francisco Valverde

Organizations

Les trois passants (Francia)

Ongi etorri errefuxiatuak araba

Asamblea Libertaria Autoorganizada Paliacate Zapatista, Grecia

Unión de sindicatos Solidaires (Francia)

Nodo Solidale (México/Italia)

Colectivo Armadillo Suomi/Finlandia

Centro de Documentación sobre Zapatismo -CEDOZ-

Asamblea Berlin, Alemania

La Resistencia Los Angeles

Vocesenlucha – Comunicación Popular

20zln – italia

Museo de Formas Imposibles, Finlandia

Alerta Feminista, París

Pueblos Unidos de la Región Cholulteca y de los Volcanes

Nodo de Derechos Humanos (NODHO)

Fanzinoteka Guerra Idealista, Puebla

Concejo Autónomo de Santiago Mexquititlán

Colectivo Los Otros Abogadoz

Colectivo Casa Click

Encuentro Fotográfico México

Libertad bajo palabra editorial

Movimiento Atzin

Brigada en defensa del territorio Xochiteco

Asociación Cultural Loquesomos.org

Libélula Espacio Creativo, Puebla

Terraformar Librespacio Cultural

El Taller, Centro de Sensibilización y Educación Humana A. C.

IMDEC AC

Consejo Tiyat Tlali

Red Morelense de Apoyo al CNI-CIG/ Colectividad Nuestra Alegre Rebeldía

Raíces en resistencia

Sexta por la libre Yucatán

Morada Tropikal El Teatrito Yucatán

Rizoma

Redmycz. Resistencias Enlazando Dignidad y Corazón Zapatista

Poposteando Ando

Mexicanos Unidos

Red de Apoyo Iztapalapa Sexta (Rais).

Colectivo de Profesorxs En La Sexta

Comunidad de Tlanezi Calli En Resistencia

Comunidad de Xochitlanezi

Colectivo Gavilanas

Colectivo de Trabajo Cafetos

Colectivo Cuaderno Común

Asociación de Exploración Científica y Recreativa

Brújula Roja

Colectivo La Otra Justicia

Colectivo Panadero La Grieta

Mexicali Resiste

Colectivo Mochosbij en común

Colectivo Noche de los Mayas