Nine people cover their faces with balaclavas. They carry long guns. On their vests are the initials CDN, referring to the Northeast Cartel, an armed group formed from the fission of the highly violent Zetas, operating primarily in Tamaulipas. In the center, one of them holds a piece of paper and reads, “This organization is responding to your call for a ceasefire.” [del presidente mexicano, Andrés Manuel López Obrador] and joins him. It does not mean weakness at all, but strives for the peace and well-being of Mexico.” With these words, the presumed member of the CDN greenlighted the petition published a month ago by the Seeking Mothers of Sonora, in which they wanted the leaders of the cartels to be one “Peace” asked for the search for their disappeared.
“We are all Mexicans. We also have mothers, fathers, children, siblings. We are human and we want to tell you that whatever your vocation, we have spoken to the CDG [Cártel del Golfo de Matamoros] from Matamoros and we are in peace talks,” comments the hooded spokesman. The video of the suspected cartel members spread on social networks last Thursday. Sonoran Mother Tracing Director Cecilia Flores confirmed her veracity to this newspaper on Friday.
Delia Quiroga, one of the activists of the March 10 collective, in May called for a peace pact with nine cartels to end enforced disappearances in the country. Days later, Flores joined Quiroga’s embassy. “The need to continue searching for our disappeared leads us to do all of this, asking for a truce from those who left us empty-armed and dying slowly and with so much pain.” Mercy for our missing . You deserve a decent place to rest,” he shared on his networks.
The call of the seeking mothers did not long reach the National Palace. López Obrador expressed his support for this pact. “Violence is irrational and we will continue to seek peace to achieve peace and that is where we are. “Of course, if there is such an initiative, we support it,” the President said at one of his morning conferences on May 30. A month later, the CGN asks the government to tell them who their representatives should meet to reach the agreement, and asks that they offer the government legal mechanisms to ensure that the agreements they could reach , be respected.
The CGN is one of the links in the chain of violence in Mexico. Tamaulipas, his main sphere of influence, became involved in the battle between the cartels. Its strategic location – right on the border with the United States – makes it a contentious area between the various cartels that see a large market for the drug trafficking business in their northern neighbor. The Northeast Cartel is a splinter group of the Zetas, the bloodiest Mexican cartel in the country. Mexican authorities arrested cartel leader Juan Gerardo Treviño, aka El Huevo, last year in an incident that indicated violence by the armed group. His arrest automatically triggered a wave of terror in Nuevo Laredo (Tamaulipas). Between blockades and shootings, the city stood still for hours. Treviño was deported to the United States – where he is a citizen – via the bridge that connects Tijuana Airport to the country. The United States had offered a reward for him: $100,000.
Last year, Mexico surpassed the symbolic 100,000 disappearances since 1964, when the count began. Seeking mothers tirelessly dig for their lost relatives and cannot ensure that they return home safely themselves. An example of this problem is that of Teresa Magueyal. She has been searching for her son José Luis Apaseo since April 6, 2020 when he disappeared in the municipality of San Miguel Octopan (Celaya, Guanajuato). In May, she was murdered with bullets in broad daylight in the same community. This open wound in Mexico is not an isolated case. Flores, the leader of the Mothers of Sonora, a few months ago denounced the threats she received outside the Attorney General’s office in Mexico City: “They put a price on my head.” Flores has been trying for more than seven years to to find his missing persons. With a trembling voice and in front of various media, he commented that day: “My only sin was loving my children.”
Subscribe here Subscribe to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information about current events in this country