Lights of hope
They founded human rights movements in the face of the harsher realities of Veracruz. The work of these two leaders alongside their peers has attracted international attention.
Norma Romero Vázquez —leader of Las Patronas— and Rosalía Castro Toss —co-founder of Colectivo Solecito— are known far beyond their towns in the High Mountains of Veracruz: in the rest of Mexico and the world, their defense of migrants and victims of enforced disappearance conveys a powerful hope to thousands of people. The artist Mark Quijano wanted to pay homage to her work as part of the pictorial project on women from her region, developed thanks to a grant from the Rokunin Collective.
Feeding the dream (2022-11-29/2023-02-15) by Mark QuijanoColectivo Rokunin
The US-Mexico migration corridor is the busiest in the world. According to the Migration Policy Institute, almost 2.4 million people were expelled or apprehended at the border in 2022. In Veracruz, authorities detected more than 30,000 undocumented migrants that year.
The freight train known as La Bestia serves migrants to cross Mexico. In 1994, a group of women from La Patrona, in Amatlán, Veracruz, decided to share their food with the people they saw on the wagons. A simple but very powerful gesture.
"What you least imagine is everything that is going to happen," explains Doña Norma, leader of Las Patronas. When they started, they did not know that these people were fleeing poverty and violence from Central America, risking their lives. More than 850 died trying to cross the border in 2022.
Protect them
"One thing was leading to another." They only wanted to give food and water to people they saw in need, but they understood that the problem was much more complex. They learned "what are the human rights of migrants and women, in order to protect them."
They changed minds
They have witnessed many deaths and painful stories, but also many others with a happy ending. They have silenced those who called them crazy when they started this work. "Helping is not crazy, it's conscientious. I believe that minds have been changed," says Doña Norma.
I'm going to the cane field (2023-02-20) by José Gabriel Molina (photographer)Colectivo Rokunin
With the support of people from all over the world, they managed to build a dining room and a shelter, but Doña Norma insists that there is still a lot of work to do. Las Patronas have seen how the problems in their region are increasingly similar to those of their migrant brothers. "We have to keep fighting."
When her son Roberto Carlos Casso Castro disappeared in 2011, Dr. Rosalía Castro Toss closed her dental office in Huatusco. At that time, citizen support networks had not been woven in the face of forced disappearance. She went many times to demonstrate alone in front of the state government headquarters in Xalapa. There she met other mothers in her situation. In 2014 she founded Colectivo Solecito Veracruz together with Lucía Díaz Genao. Today a part of her office works as a bazaar to raise funds.
Treasure hunters (2022-10-25/2023-02-18) by Mark QuijanoColectivo Rokunin
In Mexico there are more than 100,000 registered cases of missing persons. In Veracruz, the FIDH estimates that there could be more than 20,000, although there are only 7,400 registered. Their search often ends
The Solecito Collective has found the two largest clandestine graves in Latin America in Veracruz, where a total of 615 skulls were recovered. But Rosalía Castro does not speak of skulls, remains or bodies. She talks about treasures. Finding them is what gives him the strength.
We speak the same language
In the solecitas, as they call themselves, Rosalía found "another family. We speak the same language." They experience the same pain of not knowing, which grows with each obstacle or injustice along the way. "It's a wound, but it's also a challenge," she points out before mentioning her accomplishments.
Looking for justice
In addition to finding the clandestine graves, the solecitas have found people alive. They also went to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to denounce some disappearances as crimes against humanity, in which the complicity of the authorities was documented.
Treasures are sought (2023-02-21) by Teresa Morte (photographer)Colectivo Rokunin
The solecitas and thousands of women organized in different groups throughout the country have had to carry out tasks that correspond to the State in these cases. "Any obstacle they put up we have to remove. If we don't look for them, who will look for them?"
Rokunin Collective 2023
Veracruz Mexico
Paintings and illustrations: Mark Quijano.
Photographs: José Gabriel Molina and Teresa Morte.
Text and design: Teresa Morte.
Production: Alejandra Mendoza.
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