At least eight young people disappeared at the end of February on the beaches of Oaxaca, on the Mexican Pacific. They had left Tlaxcala, in the center of the country. At the beginning of March, a vehicle with nine bodies inside was abandoned on a highway, already on the border with Puebla, 400 kilometers from the coast. These data, the only ones that have been verified so far, involve three state governments in the investigation of at least one disappearance and one massacre. Despite the seriousness of the matter, none of the three entities has taken any step to explain what happened, what happened for a group of young people to disappear from one of the most important tourist enclaves in the country and what is the relationship with the scene of a mobile massacre. Meanwhile, lies and silence.
Mexico has shown that it is capable of organizing more than 3,500 security personnel in record time to transport 29 drug lords to the United States, as happened last week, but it seems incapable of taking steps forward when it comes to the disappearance of eight young Mexicans, of little importance on the other side of the border. In a country with more than 110,000 missing persons and a 95% impunity rate, the case of the young people from Tlaxcala has been caught between the “indications” of the prosecutors’ offices and the ministries of Security and Government of three states, which are trying to shift responsibility to the neighboring state.
At the end of February, Angie Lizeth Pérez, 29, and Brenda Mariel Salas, 19, left together in a Ford Fiesta from Tlaxcala to Huatulco, one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Mexican coast. On the 27th, their families lost contact with them. The next day, Raúl Emmanuel González and Noemí Yamileth, both 28 years old, disappeared. The last time they were heard from was in Zipolite, one of the most famous beaches on this coast, about 50 kilometers from where Angie and Brenda went missing. The Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office received the four reports of disappearance.
Also from Zipolite and on February 28, Jacqueline Ailet Meza, 23 years old, was taken, according to her mother in a Facebook post. “Please, I ask for your help, my daughter disappeared last night on a beach in Huatulco, called Zipolite, they took her and until today we know nothing about my daughter. She was taken from a food place near the same beach, two little ones, five and three years old, are waiting for her,” the woman wrote on March 1. She then filed the respective complaint with the Oaxaca Search Commission.
That same day and in that same place, Lesly Noya’s trail went missing. At 11 a.m. on February 28, her family heard from her for the last time. She was 21 years old. They reported her disappearance to the Tlaxcala District Attorney’s Office, where the young woman was from. In total, the authorities of Oaxaca and Tlaxcala issued search cards for these six people. But, in addition, on social media, friends and family members warned of the disappearance of Rubén Antonio Ramos and Rolando Armando Evaristo, both 22 years old and also from Tlaxcala. It is not known when or where they disappeared, but the friends shared their search cards along with the other six.
On Monday, attention shifted to Puebla, 400 kilometers from the coast. Brenda Mariel Salas, one of the first mentioned, was found alive there, according to the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office, which did not explain when she had been found, nor in what condition, nor how she had arrived there, hundreds of kilometers from where she was with her friend Angie. Brenda was found alone. On Monday, too, the Puebla police reported the discovery of an abandoned car on the highway that connects the state with Oaxaca. It was on the side of the asphalt, right on the border of the two entities. Inside the vehicle were nine bodies, five men and four women. The discovery triggered the same questions that remain to this day: were they the young people from Tlaxcala? If they were, who were they?
“There are indications that some bodies are probably from people from there, but we have to wait,” said Puebla’s Secretary of Security, Francisco Sánchez, on Monday, adding sarcastically: “Here it goes: are you observing where the bodies were found? Yes? Where? Where is it? It’s the border between Puebla and Oaxaca, right? We have not had such events in the State, yes or no?” While the official pointed unambiguously to the neighboring authorities, the prosecutor of Oaxaca, Bernardo Rodríguez, affirmed that since the bodies had been located in Puebla, it is the Puebla authorities who must make the identification. For his part, at the moment, “there is no update, investigations are being carried out and what can be made public has already been made public,” the department has indicated to EL PAÍS.
The lack of official information has left the perfect gaps for misinformation to proliferate. These days, screenshots of a WhatsApp group called “Los Zacapuaxtlas” have appeared on websites, radio and television, which have been attributed without proof to the missing young people. In the images, to which this newspaper had access, no name related to that of these eight young people can be seen, nor is there any link to them in the texts. However, many media outlets have reported that the boys were part of this group, which allegedly carried out robberies, the alleged reason for their disappearance.
Given the lack of data from governments and virtual hoaxes, it is the families of the missing young women who have given information about what happened to them. Monica, the sister of Jacqueline Ailet Meza, confirmed that the girl had been found dead and wrote a farewell on Instagram also for her boyfriend (whose name has not been published): “Rest in peace my little angels, it was no way to die and even less for you, you deserved another farewell.” The woman has not given details of the discovery of her sister’s body, whether it was in the car found on the road between Puebla and Oaxaca or not.
The same has happened with Lesly Noya. This Tuesday, Karla, her sister, also said goodbye to her on Facebook: “My beautiful girl, they have taken you from my life and I could not protect you. I don’t have the mind now to be able to accept what is happening, I wish that all this was a nightmare and that tomorrow everything would be fine, your only mistake was trusting the wrong people, my girl.” “My daughter had nothing to do with that group, if they really investigate it will be known that there are many things there and my daughter did not deserve that.”
Source: elpais
