Ramirez, Allison

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3 6l l i l a s   p o r t a lSALVADORAN migrants are known as “tres veces mojados” because they must cross three border-rivers on their journey north	to	the	United	States.	While	folks	from	the	U.S.	no	doubt	con-sider	the	Rio	Grande,	or	Rio	Bravo,	to be the most infamous, it is the Rio	Suchiate	dividing	Mexico	and Guatemala that represents the beginning of the most perilous part of the journey for Central Americans.	Upon	entering	Mexico,	Central	Americans	descend	into	“undocumented” status, essentially a license to become victims of assault, kidnapping, rape, and murder at the hands of organized crime and both local and national Mexican authorities. While these abuses are well	documented	by	Mexico’s	National	Human	Rights	Commission	and	the	United	Nations,	recent	years	have	only	seen	an	upswing	in	the	vio-lence, including the massacre of 72 migrants in Tamauilpas, Mexico, in 2010 and the discovery of many more clandestine graves in 2011. On the other end of the line are hundreds of families waiting to hear news of their loved ones while at the same time trying to survive the very conditions of poverty and insecurity that push hundreds of Central Americans to leave their homes each day to embark on this journey.I	first	became	acquainted	with	this	issue	in	the	summer	of	2006,	as	I	read	through	the	case	files	of	hundreds	of	migrants	who	had	disappeared one day, never to be heard from by their families again. CARECEN	International,	a	small	Salvadoran	NGO,	had	gathered	these	stories, bits and pieces of information and documentation, from distraught mothers and wives who had found no recourse through institutional means to search for their loved ones. I was assigned to make phone calls, contacts with migrant houses and human rights organizations in harm’s way, to scan pictures of the missing to see if anyone had noticed this traveler in particular among the multi-tude headed north. To me, it was a needle-in-the haystack search. The families, however, managed to maintain an enduring hope that somehow their case would be resolved.Entering	the	University	of	Texas	at	Austin	in	2009,	I	knew	that	these issues would be at the cornerstone of my research as part of the LLILAS program. I have pursued both my academic and advo-cacy interests as a dual-degree student with the LBJ School of Public Affairs,	combining	a	professional	policy	focus	with	a	rigorous	research	agenda. At the heart of it all has been a continuing relationship with	the	family	members,	who	pulled	together	during	that	first	summer to form COFAMIDE, the Committee of Family Members of Migrants	Who	Have	Died	or	Disappeared.	Over	the	course	of	the	spring	2011 semester and into the summer, I was able to return to El Salvador to pursue independent coursework on COFAMIDE’s evolv-ing advocacy strategies with the Salvadoran government, while at the same time continuing to provide technical, administrative, and moral support to the organization. Working at the intersection of policy and academia has been a unique and rewarding experience that I’m not sure I would have had the chance to pursue outside this graduate program.Migration and Human Rights in El SalvadorSSTUDY/RESEARCH ABROADby  All i son 	Ramirez3 7l l i l a s   p o r t a lFamily members of the disappeared advocate for search of loved ones.3 8l l i l a s   p o r t a lFamilies manage to maintain hope that somehow their case will be resolved. 3 9l l i l a s   p o r t a lRight	before	I	came	to	Austin	in	2009,	I	was	able	to	witness	the	most historic political moment to occur in El Salvador during its modern history: the ascendancy of a left-wing political party to the presidency.	The	FMLN	party,	with	its	roots	as	the	guerrilla	organiza-tion	fighting	for	social	change	during	the	Salvadoran	civil	war,	was	elected on a platform of change with moderate candidate Mauricio Funes at the helm. Many human rights organizations, including COFAMIDE, were anxiously anticipating an about-face in human rights policies, after what they considered to be years of rejection and	dismissal	by	previous	administrations.	COFAMIDE,	finding	little	concern for the issue at home, had previously staged a Caminata de la Esperanza to Mexico, meeting with local authorities and voicing their concerns. A transnational advocacy network of activists in Mexico and Central America had emerged, serving as an alternative source of information while trying to use their moral leverage to spur their governments to action. With	the	election	of	the	FMLN,	COFAMIDE	hoped	the	govern-ment would assume its obligations to its citizens: pressure Mexico to protect transit migrants, provide support for repatriations, and begin a program of reparations for the victims. Although several key figures	were	replaced	within	the	government,	many	lower	level	offi-cials remained. Despite good intentions, change, as we have learned in	the	United	States	as	well,	is	slow.	COFAMIDE	did	not	hesitate	to	partner again with international allies to pressure its own govern-ment on human rights policies. Notable	among	these	initiatives	is	the	first	attempt	at	a	regional	DNA	database	to	compare	samples	taken	from	family	members	with	unidentified	bodies	that	are	most	likely	migrants.	The	main	protago-nist: the Forensic Anthropology Team of Argentina (EAAF, for its initials in Spanish), a world-renowned group of professionals that began in Argentina, identifying the disappeared of the Dirty War. Years ago, the EAAF worked to exhume the massacre and identify the dead at El Mozote, one of the largest that took place during El Salvador’s	12-year	civil	war.	Now,	the	EAAF	finds	itself	identifying	a	new generation of those who have “disappeared,” although the fun-damental reasons for these phenomena remain the same—structural poverty, marginalization, and the attempt to escape these conditions, whether	by	taking	up	arms	or	fleeing	the	country.While it is a noble initiative that will help resolve the uncertainty that plagues hundreds of Salvadoran mothers, fathers, spouses, and children, the activists I work with believe it never would have taken off	without	international	pressure	from	the	EAAF.	Fears	of	image	prob-lems can still go a long way to help cut the bureaucratic red tape and muster the political will to move forward. The hope is that this project will	continue	to	grow,	and	that	unidentified	bodies	throughout	Mexico	and	the	U.S.-Mexico	border	will	be	exhumed	and	tested	against	the	samples provided from families waiting for a match. Five years ago I never would have imagined that I would be present for the start of this	project,	but	I	do	hope	that	five	years	from	now	I	will	have	seen	more than one match made and more than one family brought out of uncertainty; that there will be enough political will on all sides of the border(s) to remove the curse of being “tres veces mojado.” ✹Allison Ramirez is a dual degree master’s candidate in Latin American Studies and Global Policy Studies. 

Migration and Human Rights in El Salvador

https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/62051/12Portal_issue6_2011_Ramirez.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Migration and Human Rights in El Salvador

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