海角大神

Six months after the grisly disappearance of 43 teachers' college students in the troubled Mexican state of Guerrero, friends and family of the missing spread out across the United States and Mexico to remind the world that the search isn鈥檛 over.

Marches took place throughout Mexico, and three caravans made up of the family and friends of the students and activists are traveling to at least 30 US cities to raise awareness about the case and ongoing disappearances here.

鈥淣othing will change if we stop fighting,鈥� says Omar Garcia, who was with his classmates in Iguala before they disappeared on Sept. 26.

Mr. Garcia and a handful of other students were able to flee before his peers were taken by local police and handed over to a gang, according to government accounts. The gang then allegedly burned the bodies beyond DNA recognition. Six months later, only one student has been confirmed dead by investigators.聽

鈥淭his fight is for all Mexicans,鈥� Garcia says by telephone from Saint Louis, Mo., where he鈥檚 traveling with the Caravana 43. 鈥淲e are trying to take the problems of our country like corruption, government ties to drug cartels, and disappearances to a national and international level.鈥�

Tens of thousands of people have disappeared in Mexico since 2006, leading to a wave of聽small-scale battles for truth and broader victim鈥檚 rights movements. But few have seen聽the sort of sustained action and awareness that exists now, observers say.聽Calling attention to suspected disappearances or kidnappings in Mexico can lead to the death or kidnapping of those searching for their missing loves ones.

But the families and friends of the 43 students have not been deterred from their quest for answers. The combination of a history of social mobilization in the state of Guerrero and the shocking circumstances of their case 鈥� not to mention their power in numbers 鈥� has helped bolster the movement.

鈥淭he families aren鈥檛 backing down,鈥� says Ignacio Irazuzta, a sociologist at the Monterrey Technological Institute in Monterrey. They鈥檝e initiated their own search for their missing sons, brothers, and nephews, hiring outside investigators, demanding answers from the government, and fighting for access to military barracks, where they fear the young men may have been taken.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e internationalizing this idea of a disappeared person,鈥� Mr. Irazuzta says. 鈥淎nd locally the case and movement has crystallized an opposition to the government.鈥�

'Greater credibility'

A few thousand people marched down Mexico City鈥檚 Reforma Boulevard Thursday evening.聽

Protestors carried signs and banners, with one reading simply, 鈥渟ix painful months have passed.鈥� Another read, 鈥淣o one can shut us up,鈥� a reference to both the incessant search for the missing students and the recent firing of a prominent investigative journalist.

So far, the families of the missing students have done a great job bringing attention to their case, says Zara Snapp, the former advocacy director for the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, which works with relatives of missing persons to promote better laws and build support networks.

鈥淭here are so many families involved that the movement can be in many places at the same time,鈥� says Ms. Snapp.

Including the six-month anniversary marches across North America, relatives have gone to multinational institutions like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations's Committee on Enforced Disappearance.聽

The state of Guerrero, where the students disappeared, has a long聽history of government repression 鈥� and social mobilization. In the 1960s and 鈥�70s, state forces killed hundreds of suspected leftist-guerrilla fighters during Mexico鈥檚 dirty war, according to a recently released truth commission report. Guerrero is often at the center of large-scale teachers' strikes and other union protests.

Alberto D铆az-Cayeros, a senior fellow at the Center for Democracy Development and Rule of Law at Stanford University, says the state's history plays a role in how determined and organized the families have been.

鈥淭here鈥檚 an aura of greater credibility because this is not just a domestic political issue, but a more universal moral claim,鈥� says Mr. D铆az. 鈥淭his was a very specific group of students that were politically active and politically aware, in a place that has suffered repression historically.鈥�

Relatives are calling for the government to return the missing students alive. It鈥檚 a tragic request given the time that鈥檚 passed and the gruesome acts drug cartels in Mexico have proven they鈥檙e capable of.

鈥淭here鈥檚 still no closure. No proof of death,鈥� says Snapp. 鈥淯ntil there's independent DNA identifying each student, they won鈥檛 accept their loved ones are gone. It鈥檚 a lack of trust.鈥�

For its part, the Mexican government has聽repeatedly asked the country to move forward and largely ignored聽continued criticism about its slow response to the聽events in Iguala.

In a January speech, President Enrique Pe帽a Nieto said, 鈥淚'm convinced that we should not remain trapped in this instant, this moment in Mexico's history, of sorrow, of tragedy and pain. We just can't dwell here.鈥� 聽

'Moving forward'

Inevitably, the turnout at marches is going to start to decline as other news events and human rights violations emerge, Snapp says. Already, Mexico City marches are visibly smaller than ones in months past. Various banners on Thursday called for action on separate social causes, like water rights and freedom of the press.

鈥淭he families will need to figure out what their strategy is moving forward,鈥� Snapp says.聽鈥淭he gravity of the case, the lack of access to justice and lack of closure鈥� make these disappearances and this fight stand out, she added.

Mexico has seen victim鈥檚 rights movements in the past. Four years ago, the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity galvanized the often-isolated population of Mexicans who lost someone to drug violence or enforced disappearance. This group, too, organized a caravan to Washington, DC to call for awareness in the US. It was also pivotal in pushing for the 2013 General Law of Victims. Groups like this laid some of the groundwork for the families of the 43 students. Now there鈥檚 hope that they can work together to keep victims rights issues and attention on enforced disappearances in the public conscious.

Estimates of how many people have disappeared between 2006 鈥� when then President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug traffickers 鈥� and 2012 vary widely. Government statistics put the number close to 14,000, while human rights groups say as many as 45,000 have disappeared. But disappearances also happen without recourse on the US-Mexico border.聽

For Garcia, the surviving student, this fight won't stop until the families have answers from Mexico's government.

"We are knocking on doors around the world, saying, 'Do something. Put some pressure on Mexico. We need our human rights'."