How do you think the lack of response from authorities emotionally affects the victims’ families?

Isac:Lety also wanted to inform everyone on the things that are going on, so that more people can offer help to solve the issue and be aware of everything going on in relation.

Froylan: All though the stories are not about the same topic, they are about having the goal of letting people know the real situation that is happening in the country.

Isac: Association as well as advocacy are some of the best things that FUNDENL are doing. These two things greatly help to spread the word and show people what the ongoing situation is like. This can lead to people unifying to tackle the problem sooner, as the faster information circulates, the more support can be gained.

Froylan: Service and association are the best to describe the case, Mrs. Lety Hidalgo serves her community by supporting families of disappeared persons, helping them navigate the emotional and legal challenges they face, on the other hand association because together they strengthen their voice and organize events.

Isac: Mrs. Lety has done great things for the community by inspiring and conducting searches for missing people all over the country and even internationally. Personally, she is a great source of inspiration and shows that one person can cause a chain reaction that results in a very important and large movement like the one she is spearheading right now.

Froylan: Thanks to her team, they showed how together we are stronger, as well as many victims' families no longer feel alone by having resources and support.

There is a division between people who believe in the media and those who don’t. The media has a big influence on society and on how people see forced disappearances. When the media respectfully tells the story and shows care for the victims, it can help pressure the government to take action. But the media can also be unfair in some cases. Sometimes, they may spread lies to protect themselves or ignore stories that could make them look bad.

What are the dangers of misinformation and biased reporting?

Misinformation and biased reporting can be very dangerous. They could hurt the victim's family, protect those who caused harm, and make it hard to know what’s really happening and make justice for the victim. 

How can individuals push for more accurate and responsible journalism?

People can help by supporting honest news sources, checking facts before sharing stories, as well as seeing if the media is related to the government. If they are, they would say things that support the government even though it's not the best option. Due to corruption, we do not have accurate news. Therefore, the corruption aspect should be more controlled, and giving money to a journalist to say what suits him should be investigated.

If you were in a situation similar to Lety´s, how would you like society to respond to your case? What do you think is needed for that reaction to happen?

If I were in Lety’s place, I would like society to understand that it's a difficult situation and sometimes that the family's victims stress out due to the media asking what happened, so I would add if they could respect my space. I believe that some people that just want to know the situation don't understand the vulnerability of the family. 

There is a crisis of enforced disappearances of persons in Mexico.  The Mexican Government acknowledges that there are more than 80,000 disappeared or missing persons in the country -- a number that literally grows by the day.  And the disappearance of each of these persons not only violates their human rights -- to life, to be free from arbitrary detention and torture, and to be recognized by the law -- but this act violates the rights of their the victims’ families and negatively impacts Mexican communities. The Mexican government’s own Sub-Secretary of Human Rights, has observed that “México is very prone to these types of happenings.”

The crisis of disappearances has unfolded as part of the larger pattern of criminal violence in Mexico, driven by the activities of organized crime and the involvement, support, or acquiescence of state actors in those criminal activities. Disappearances frequently occur with the direct and indirect involvement of government agents. These state actors may be part of a web of macro-criminality in which they are furthering the ends of organized crime. Even if the state is not directly involved in a disappearance, it has a positive responsibility to prevent and punish the perpetrators and to search for the disappeared.  

According to Payne and Ansolabehere, there are four logics that explain the persistence of disappearance in a post-transitional state such as Mexico: its clandestine nature; the construction of a ‘disposable’ person;  the  political  economy  utility;  and  ambiguous  loss as social control. 

The context of impunity in Mexico has contributed to the crisis of disappearances. Lack of information about disappearances is used to justify the lack of accountability, making it easier for perpetrators to get away with such acts. A close look at these cases, however, demonstrates that there are cases in which government officials don’t investigate disappearances in the timely and effective manner as required by law, or to try to search for the whereabouts of the disappeared. This may be because of the difficulty of such an investigation or the fear of undertaking one in a context of violent crime. Alternatively, failure to search or investigate has been meant to conceal the involvement of state agents themselves. 

Because of the government’s failure to investigate, many families of the disappeared themselves took on the task of searching for their loved ones.  Collectives of family members, such as United Forces for Our Disappeared(FUUNDEC) and Citizens in Support of Human Rights (CADHAC), discussed in this study, became fierce advocates for accountability. This is the case for Lety and her org FUNDENL, as she lost her 18-year-old son and was led to create a whole organization to stop more cases like hers from happening. After a decade of crimes and mounting numbers of disappearance cases, the collective pressure of families of the disappeared and national and international NGOs led to the 2017 adoption of the General Law on the Forced Disappearance of Persons, Disappearances Committed by Individuals, and the National System for the Search for Persons. This new legal framework led to a more engaged governmental response led by the National Search Commission on disappearances.

• How can individuals push for more accurate and responsible journalism?

  Accurate sources that don’t use biased language and give a fair coverage of everything can be supported, while biased and misinforming sources can be boycotted. News sources thrive off of the people who consume them, and when that is taken away, they can be driven to change.

• If you were in a situation similar to Lety´s, how would you like society to respond to your case? What do you think is needed for that reaction to happen?

  If I was in Lety’s shoes, I would like for people to offer their support or help. Lety wasn’t being helped out by the government, which led her to take initiative and do everything herself. She was blessed enough to have received lots of support and run an ever-growing organization to help out people in her case. While the government may not help me, if the people could, that would be of great reassurance and support, as I could do the same thing Lety did and unite more people in protest of the government’s inaction and in search of more missing people.

What are the dangers of misinformation and biased reporting?

How can individuals push for more accurate and responsible journalism?

If you were in a situation similar to Lety´s, how would you like society to respond to your case? What do you think is needed for that reaction to happen?

The news has an important impact on how citizens see forced disappearances, and any other situation that is happening, they have the power to make the reader how and where to look. If the news shows the real story and gives victims a voice, it can help others understand the problem, but they do not always show the truth. The media usually tell it in the wrong way, especially in Mexico.

Misinformation and biased news are very dangerous because they can blame the wrong people or protect those responsible. They tend to direct the readers to have a side of the story only. This can hurt the families of the victims even more. When news is unfair or supports only one side, it makes it harder for people to know what’s really going on.

We can all help make media better, its difficult but with good reasearch we can. We should check if the information we see is true, and verify with different sources, and not always believe everything we read online. We can also talk to others about what’s happening.

Telling the truth is important. When the media tells real stories in a fair way, more people can understand, care, and take action.

After Lety’s conference we got to understand their point of view. Honestly before the talk it was hard for us to understand why people painted walls, and caused “caos” sometimes in the city. Now we know that honestly its the only way to get noticed. We love how a lot of people instead of judging they stared to help the cause, there is always someone who will make your goal harder, but also people who will support you, we liked how the society here in MTY reacted. We totally agree with the FUNDENL manifestations, there is no violence but a strong and direct message.

“An abhorrent act violates the rights of their anguished families and causes deep trauma in Mexican communities.”

 “Mexico is an enormous clandestine grave.”

Analysis: Phrases such as “an abhorrent act” or “Mexico is an enormous clandestine grave” don’t say who caused the harm and make the victims’ pain seem normal.

Lack of victim representation or missing voices

“Collectives of family members... became fierce advocates for accountability.”

Analysis:A phrase like “family collectives became fierce advocates” talks about their fight but doesn’t show their pain or voices. It focuses more on what they do than who they are or what they’ve suffered.

Government or official narratives dominating the report

“The Mexican Government acknowledges…”
“Sub-Secretary of Human Rights…”
“The 2017 adoption of the General Law…”

Analysis: The power of Mexican authority may sometimes overshadow other important voices, like those of the victims or activists. Phrases like “The Mexican Government acknowledges…” or “The Sub-Secretary of Human Rights…” reflect the message. 

Sensationalism or omission of key facts

“Efforts by some branches of the Mexican government to search and investigate…”

Analysis:The phrase “Efforts by some branches of the Mexican government to search and investigate…”refers to the government trying to work hard.

Biased language that shifts blame (revictimization)

Analysis: The report does not imply that the victims were responsible.

Lack of victim representation or missing voices

“no descansaremos hasta saber la verdad.”

Analysis: We hear from the families of the missing students, but we don’t hear from survivors.

Government or official narratives dominating the report

“we know it was the police and the

military we are reminding the government

that we will not rest until we know what happened until we see

our children again”

Analysis: In this case the goverment could have been involved in the case of dissaperence.

Sensationalism or omission of key facts

“recent developments in the investigation

have upended and discredited the

official government narrative

previously held which said the students

were kidnapped by corrupt police”

Analysis:They say new things were found that prove the government’s old story was wrong but they don’t explain what those new things are.

"After they resisted handing over their car, they were shot" 

This line makes revictimizes the people involved. Because due to their actions they are dead. 

"robbery gone wrong"

This makes this case look like a usual, or low importance crime than it actually is.

• Lack of victim representation or missing voices

They show some of the families reactions but not a direct interaction with them. It lacks of a direct call for justice.

• Government or official narratives dominating the report

This news heavily relies on official sources, like police reports, FBI communications etc. The “official” news is presented as a robbery and suspects are arrested, this is presented as a fact.

• Sensationalism or omission of key facts

“bodies found in a well,” “burned-out car,” and “rugged area” are emphasized for emotional effect. There is no broader context about violence against foreigners or the long-standing issue of impunity and organized crime in the region.

• Rewrite one of the given articles in a way in which the isssue could be approached objectively.

Three surfers, one American and two Australian brothers, were found dead in Baja California, Mexico. They had been missing since April 27th after they didn’t arrive home. The men had been camping and surfing near Ensenada, a popular spot about 90 miles from the U.S. border. Their car was later found burned near the area where their bodies were discovered in a well. Mexican authorities have arrested two men and a woman and they are being investigated in a connection with the case. Officials believe it may have been a robbery, but the full details are still not clear. Families of the victims had been searching for them and asking for help online. The mother of the Australian brothers posted their photo in a Facebook group asking for information. People who knew the victims, including sports teams and friends, have shared messages of support on social media. The FBI has said they are in contact with the family of the U.S. victim and are working with Mexican authorities to find out what happened. The U.S. State Department continues to warn travelers to be cautious in Baja California due to crime and kidnappings. The investigation is still ongoing.