Sister Consuelo Morales receives National Human Rights Prize

Sister Consuelo Morales
Founder of Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos (Citizens Advocating for Human Rights)
Recently given the distinction of the National Human Rights Pize.

"In 2009, we started to receive the first cases of (disappearances), the first were 12 policemen that disappeared in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The advantage of Nuevo León - from where they resided and attend these cases - is because the towns surrounding the state is actually 80% of Nuevo León. That is, geography helped us to easily identify the municipalities where they took the people from.

At that specific moment, we were unable to read the sequence of events. In 2010, we had a visit from Juan Méndez, the ONU torture relator and we made a report in which we stated the outrage we were in, because torture was applied by the policemen from our same municipality! Right there on the street! Luckily, T.V. back then still reported these cases, we still had that coverage, there was more freedom then.

We weren't able to read what was behind these events because torture was the way organised crime operated... we kept getting more cases, the number kept growing in a substantial way. The people were looking for help with militaries, marines, municipal policemen, at the attorney's general office, everywhere and they didn't find either support or openness.

Then we started to look closer and certain patterns emerged, what specific types of people were taken... those who managed to get out from it or escape from the delinquents were forced to bring other 4 innocent people, otherwise (they were told) they would 'rape their mother'. That way, delinquents were inserting the same victims into a terrible dynamic.

Most of the cops were permeated by the organised crime, we think the first policemen cases we received were because they refused to partake, and when they refused to do so, it was them or their families, and... well, they're still missing.

From the point of view of the delinquency, disappearances have the objective to sow terror and fear. In Nuevo León between 2010 ad 2011, streets were empty from 5 or 6 pm and unto the rest of the night.

Delinquency found new ways of getting money, they took people, they hired younger people, they charged owners of restaurants and bars a fee [that prevented being burglarised or killed]... the desolation they reaped was so big, it's really admirable the audacity and force, mothers took upon themselves to become unstoppable [and pursue these issues].

From what we have been able to gather, we understand they sometimes took people that were first tortured, murdered the next day and then mutilated, separating the same body in big tanks where they were later burnt with diesel or acid. These people (delinquents) said it took 4 hours for the body to be consumed. What we found out, was that when they didn't have patience to wait for that process to end, or the fire was put out or they just left it there without supervision, these were the pits we were able to find and most important, the bones from which we extracted DNA samples.

Derived from that process, 1500 genetic records were obtained, we were in a critical situation, we needed the highest levels of technology... we started urging and supporting the families to denounce these crimes.

It was after Javier Sicilia's Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity in 2011, where he was able to witness how, from 15 cases that were supposed to be denounced, the number descended to 7 out of fear, that's when he said, 'let's talk to general attorney, Adrián de la Garza...' this was vital, just as vital as the force and the complaints of the families involved.

A month went by and we started to see some changes, the public ministries went straight to the general attorney to report their information.

What we found out, was, families by themselves were not going to able to do it on their own, and the authorities by themselves either. The problem was so big, so complex, we needed each other's experience".

Although a very well earned mistrust existed from the families, there was no other way to achieve that process but to work with the police side by side. When we sat down with the families, because the families went there to revise their records, we also sat down with the authorities to revise these records too, and then we suggested 'why don't you do this', and most likely authorities said 'Who is this nun that's not even a lawyer and that's revising these cases? And we said: 'who are these guys, maybe they're working with the Zetas drug cartel? Prejudice was on top of everything in a way, we were unable to advance and that process just wasted our time, it was until we finally admitted we needed the authority, that they needed to investigate, that they had the tools to do it and that they had to do it in their best intention. Also, they finally recognised we were just a bridge, a family's ally translating everything they were not able to understand from the other side.

[...] From March 2014 to March 2015, 1602 missing cases have been reported, from which [and by an immediate search process set up in 2012] 1407 were found; 1359 alive".