Help Luis find his missing wife, Mayela Alvarez

My wife, Griselda Mayela Alvarez Rodriguez, was last heard of in August 11th 2020, over a phone call, while she was on her way to work in the city of Monterrey, in Mexico. She has been missing for over a year. I seek for anyone’s help, big or small, to create further awareness of her case and voice my concern towards the problem of forced disappearance in Mexico. I stand in protest, along with thousands of other concerned mexican citizens that follow her case in grief. In one or another way, most of us feel ourselves a side-victim of a severe human rights violation against her.

A mother of two, a dedicated and efficient professionist, a human rights activist, a successful busineswoman, an accomplished academic worker and student. A high performance athlete and a medalist for Mexico in the Panamercian Games. Mayela's disappeareance has striken her community to the core. Her leadership and inspiration is sorely missed by her family and colleges. Her abscence has left an irreplaceable void in her family, social and work environment. It must not be allowed for her case to be dismissed and forgotten.

Yet, justice seems to be paying no service to Mayela. Despite the lingering concerns, Mayela's case has not shown much progress. The media is constantly reporting the multiple complaints that her family has filed, and the little attention her case is receiving by the authorities.

To this date, there are still subjects of interest that the prosecution hasn't addressed. A recent news article reads, in my own translation: "Mayela's daughter, along with her councellor and CIESAS's regional director, reported that the authorities are yet to interview at least five key witnesses in their case''. The article's title spells out the bitter realization. "Mayela has been missing for 11 months, and the authorities have stopped investigating" ("Mayela lleva 11 meses desaparecida y las autoridades ya ni siquiera investigan". Sugeyry Romina Gándara. SinEmbargo.Mx https://www.sinembargo.mx/18-07-2021/4000321).

This is an omission that has been reported to the State Human Rights Comission of Nuevo Leon as a formal complaint since september the 10th 2020, as another news article reported recently ("Exigen que Griselda Mayela Álvarez sea buscada y encontrada". Gema Silva y David Casas. Eitmedia. https://eitmedia.mx/.../101042-exigen-que-griselda-mayela...)

The analysis of Mayela's phone call records, also requested in the early stages of the case, has presumably not been completed either, as reported in another recent article. "How can anyone understand that this department has not yet been able to analyze these phone records they've had in their possesion for 8 months?" ("Exigen localización de Mayela Álvarez a nueve meses de su desaparición en NL" David Carrizales. El Universal. https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/.../exigen-locaizacion-de...)

Concerns that CCTV evidence may be already spoiled for use have also been voiced publicy by Mayela's family and their legal councelling team. "Jessica Gonzalez, a lawyer from Alternativas Pacificas who participates in Mayela's case lamented that, due to the prosecution's lack of action, the video recordings from traffic lights may not be available for use, as they get deleted from the system after a certain time' ("Denuncian omisiones de Fiscalía de NL en investigación sobre desaparición de Mayela Álvarez" David Carrizales. El Universal. https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/.../denuncian-omisiones-de... )

Mayela is one of the tens of thousands of people still missing in Mexico. As per official statistics, the number of reported cases still unresoved is over 86,000 (ouf of 212,193 cases reported since 1964, only 125,530 have been found, 93% of them alive). https://www.forbes.com.mx/mexico-reporta-mas-de-85000.../ . These numbers reveal we are facing a severe humanitarian crisis.

There are ridiculously scarce resources and staff assigned to the investigation of these types of cases in Mexico. The great majority of them end up unresolved and impune. As reported to the press by Mayela's co-workers from CIESAS Noreste (a social studies research and training facility in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon) "In the State of Nuevo Leon (..) there is a total of 5,175 filed cases of disappeareance that remain unresolved; but to this date only one sentence has ever been dictated for a forced disappeareance in said state (..) There are currently only four Public Ministry agents in the Missing Persons Specialized Prosecution Office. (Fiscalia Especializada en Personas Desaparecidas). ("Exige comunidad del CIESAS a autoridades electas en Nuevo León compromiso con desaparición de personas por caso Griselda Mayela Álvarez" Cimanoticias. https://cimacnoticias.com.mx/.../exige-comunidad-del... )


All funds will be destined to social network advertising in support of Mayela's online search effort. Funds will be spent through a Mexican account, by a collaborator in Mexico. With a small target of 1,000 dollars, over the months we might be able to cover the expenses for a whole year. This campaign will close promptly when the target is reached and all funds collected will be spent transparently and shown on social media, through screenshots. https://www.facebook.com/Never-Forget-The-Disappeared-No-Olvidar-a-los-Desaparecidos-107613241605992