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Odoo. If

2:22

I find him and I don't find the others, I'm not

2:24

going to be happy. I'm not going to be complete. From

2:31

Futuro Media and PRX, it's

2:34

Latino USA. I'm María Inocos.

2:36

Today, activist Lucia Diaz-Hinal. She's

2:39

a mother who became a leader

2:41

in the fight to search and

2:43

find the disappeared in Mexico. Lucia

2:50

Diaz-Hinal is a former teacher.

2:53

She lived a quiet and pretty

2:55

much happy life in the seaside state

2:57

of Veracruz in southern Mexico. But

3:01

then in 2013, her world was turned upside

3:05

down overnight. That

3:08

year, her 29-year-old son Luis

3:10

Guillermo, a popular DJ, didn't

3:13

return home. He

3:15

had been kidnapped. I

3:18

just collapsed. It

3:21

was horrible because it's

3:23

like this feeling, this

3:26

complete realization that he

3:29

is missing. And

3:32

so, given the inaction of

3:34

the Mexican authorities, Lucia

3:36

decided she had to do something.

3:39

That would be the beginning of her tireless

3:42

search for her son, a

3:44

quest that is now over 10 years

3:46

old. It's my son. I mean,

3:49

how can I say I give up? As

3:57

drug-related violence grew in Veracruz and

4:00

the rest of Mexico, kidnappings became

4:02

more and more frequent. In

4:04

2013, the year Luis Guillermo went missing,

4:06

600 people

4:08

disappeared in the state of Veracruz, and

4:11

close to 18,000 disappeared in all of

4:13

Mexico. Soon, Lucy would

4:16

meet other mothers just like her.

4:19

They considered themselves fighters looking

4:21

for their disappeared children. After

4:24

they had their shared suffering, they formed a

4:26

group. They called it

4:28

Solesito, which means a little

4:30

sun in Spanish. When

4:32

you're looking for something or for somebody,

4:35

you need a lot of light. So

4:37

I said, well, so the sun, sun

4:40

is the symbol of light. What

4:43

happened next seems pretty

4:45

much impossible to believe,

4:47

but it's true. These

4:51

mothers started to dig,

4:54

literally digging, doing the jobs

4:56

of archaeologists and forensics in

4:58

their search for their children.

5:02

In 2016, they discovered what turned out

5:04

to be one of the biggest mass

5:07

graves in all of Latin America, Colinas

5:10

de Santa Fe, located in the

5:12

state of Veracruz. Over

5:17

the next few years, Solesito became

5:19

an inspiration to others outside of

5:21

Mexico, families also looking

5:23

for their missing loved ones. In

5:27

this episode, Lucia tells us about

5:29

her continuous efforts to find

5:31

her son, and how she's built a

5:33

community of mothers, mothers

5:36

of disappeared children. Here's

5:39

our conversation. Lucia,

5:46

welcome to Latino USA. It's an honor to have you

5:48

on our show. Thank you

5:50

so much. It's a very good opportunity

5:52

for me to get the word out

5:55

of the missing cases in Mexico. Lucia,

5:58

let's go back to before. you

6:01

became an activist because you had another

6:04

life. You're living in Berakruz, just

6:06

kind of paint the picture. What

6:09

was your daily life like? I

6:11

had began to

6:13

live a quiet life,

6:15

traveling with my husband because he's

6:17

a sea captain, so he has

6:19

to travel very much. And

6:22

I accompanied him because my kids

6:24

were already grown ups. So I

6:27

had the opportunity to get around, travel,

6:31

visit different places, Indonesia,

6:34

Singapore. So

6:38

life was pretty nice for me

6:40

because I was already feeling

6:43

very free. And I

6:45

was traveling back and forth and visiting

6:49

the kids very frequently too. I

6:51

never neglected them, never ever. So

6:54

I was a mom all

6:56

the time. So then,

6:58

and I know this is hard, Lucy, and

7:00

I know that you've done this before, but

7:02

it's not easy to even have to ask

7:04

this question because on June 28th of

7:06

2013, that's

7:10

the day that everything changed. This

7:12

kind of joyful life

7:14

of journeys, it comes to an end

7:17

because it's on that day that

7:19

your son, his full name is

7:21

Luis Guillermo Lagunes Diaz, disappears.

7:25

It's in Veracruz. And at

7:27

that time in 2013, Veracruz, which

7:30

is normally not known as

7:32

a state of a lot of violence, but

7:34

at this time, Veracruz, and frankly, Mexico

7:37

in general, the violence was

7:39

really on the uptick in a

7:41

way that it was drawing a lot

7:43

of attention. 31

7:46

now parties have now been confirmed in

7:48

the Eastern Gulf Coast state of Veracruz.

7:50

That's a state that has been plagued

7:52

by drug-related violence. So

7:55

can you tell us what happened on

7:57

June 28th, 2013? Well,

8:01

actually, it happened

8:04

slowly for me because I

8:07

didn't find out the first day

8:10

because when he was working, I tried

8:13

to not interfere.

8:16

But his girlfriend started calling me,

8:19

sending messages and stuff. She

8:21

couldn't reach him and she had no idea

8:24

what he was. In a

8:26

couple of days, all

8:28

the alarms went off. And

8:31

that's when I started to

8:33

get really worried. I called his friends,

8:35

people that worked for him, and

8:38

they said that he was all right, not

8:40

to worry, that he would call me. But

8:44

there was this feeling, this, you know,

8:46

like that feeling. So

8:49

you called his friends, you're getting

8:51

desperate now, and they're telling

8:53

you, no, he's okay. It's not that

8:55

they knew where he was. They

9:00

were just saying the normal thing, he's out

9:03

visiting somebody or his phone

9:06

is lost battery. Is that kind of what they

9:08

were saying to you? They said that

9:10

he was working at a place where

9:12

he didn't have any signal. He was

9:14

working in one, a sienda. But

9:17

then I knew that not

9:19

that many days would go by and my

9:22

son wouldn't reach me because he knew that I

9:24

would get crazy. It

9:26

turns out that the people who worked for him were

9:29

involved in his kidnapping. Oh

9:32

my God. So this is no mystery. This

9:34

is not, you know, it's not something

9:36

they were doing to protect

9:39

me. They were just falling for time.

9:42

You could just feel it as a mom. Exactly.

9:45

Yeah. And you began to feel

9:47

like these people who are his coworkers were

9:49

actually not being honest

9:52

with you. And

9:54

I guess what's even worse, Lucy, is that

9:56

everybody was looking at you and

9:58

saying, what's the matter with you? You're

10:00

acting crazy. Everything is fine. When

10:04

I go back, you know, mentally

10:06

to that day, it's like a nightmare.

10:11

And I can hear it in your voice. It's

10:14

like you're right back there. Yeah.

10:16

You know, in your bedroom, unable

10:18

to get out of bed, collapsing,

10:21

total mental exhaustion and

10:23

sadness. At

10:25

some point, Lucy, in

10:28

this trajectory, something

10:30

clicks for you. You

10:32

probably had already seen many mothers in

10:35

Mexico. ¿Qué lorán

10:37

y lorán y estandes esperadas?

10:39

Just crying. But

10:42

not all of them stand up

10:44

and say, you know what? I

10:47

need to fight. I

10:49

need to do something. I cannot just

10:52

sit here and wait. Do

10:54

you remember when that moment happened for you? Yeah.

10:57

Like, I went to

11:00

see the authorities and

11:02

I, I took a good

11:04

look at the police

11:06

that were in charge of the investigation. I

11:09

noticed, I said, this, another

11:12

kind of people that I trust with something

11:14

like my son. I said, I got to

11:16

do something. And then I

11:18

started meeting all the other people who were

11:21

going through the same situation. You

11:24

never imagined that you would be one of them. I

11:26

never, I never, because Mexico

11:29

was a country of peace. But

11:31

then they declare war all

11:33

of a sudden. And

11:35

Veracruz was completely, completely

11:37

taken over by violence

11:40

and insecurity. More

11:43

violence in Mexico, but on a worrying

11:45

scale. 35 bodies

11:47

dumped underneath a bridge in Eastern Mexico.

11:49

Veracruz was a quiet port

11:51

city. Now dead men and

11:54

women are dumped near shopping centers. But

11:58

my son was not a

12:00

very rich person that I thought would

12:02

be a good candidate

12:04

for kidnapping. He

12:06

was a very successful businessman

12:09

at 29. And

12:13

that's when they thought they would

12:15

make some money out of him. And they did.

12:18

Well, how did you decide exactly what

12:21

to do in those first days

12:23

of beginning to take some

12:25

sort of action? It's

12:30

just knowing that my

12:32

son needed me and

12:35

that I wouldn't let him down. That

12:37

was easy for

12:39

me to decide because I knew there

12:41

was no other, there

12:44

was no choice. I had

12:46

to stand up and do something.

12:48

I was in

12:50

a terrible depression. I was sick. I was so

12:53

weak with crying

12:56

and going

12:59

all over different places, different agencies, going

13:01

from one place. It

13:07

was madness. And

13:09

my heart was completely broken.

13:11

But at that

13:13

time, I just wanted

13:16

to die. I wanted

13:18

to lay down and just die. But

13:20

I figured, who's going to look for

13:22

my son? And

13:24

I got up and started fighting.

13:31

You know, Lucy, I really want to thank you for being

13:34

so honest with me because you

13:37

don't ever get over a trauma like

13:39

this. No. You can live

13:41

day to day and find a way to

13:43

laugh, but you never can get over this.

13:46

It's been 10 years. And just

13:49

hearing you talk about this, I'm right

13:51

there with you in your sadness. And

13:54

just the kind of craziness of going

13:56

from one Mexican institution to another, trying

13:58

to find answers. At

14:02

some point, these become

14:04

the initial efforts to

14:08

turn your particular rage,

14:10

and now with other people just

14:13

like you, into something

14:15

that was

14:17

organized. I think you started by what,

14:19

creating a WhatsApp group? Yeah,

14:21

that's the way it started. Technology.

14:24

Technology can do wonders because

14:27

I started meeting people that were

14:29

undergoing my same situation and

14:31

even worse because some

14:33

of those moms had little children and

14:37

they didn't have a lot of time to go

14:39

around. I had a

14:41

moral obligation to help them too.

14:45

I have a college education and I

14:48

know what to say to the authorities.

14:50

Some of them don't even know

14:52

how to start, placing a file

14:55

or anything like that. So I

14:57

said, I need to help them. I

15:00

need to find not only my son, I need

15:02

to find them all because

15:05

I'm not going to be satisfied with

15:07

just finding my son. That's too selfish.

15:11

And I said, no, I got to get up and

15:13

do something about all the other ones too. That's

15:16

when it started. People do

15:18

begin to know and hear

15:20

about solesito. And

15:23

in 2016, you're at

15:25

a Mother's Day demonstration in Barracruz

15:27

drawing attention to this issue. And

15:34

two men jump out of a vehicle and

15:37

they hand this group of mothers a map.

15:41

Take us to that moment at the

15:43

demonstration. It happened so

15:45

suddenly. I mean, nobody

15:48

noticed the two men. We

15:51

look at their faces because there

15:53

were so many of us going around and making a

15:55

lot of noise and they

15:58

handed us those copies. and

16:01

they just left. It really happened

16:03

like in a flash. So

16:06

when I saw that I

16:08

knew immediately because it

16:11

was very specific but I didn't

16:13

want to tell the moms at the moment

16:15

because that would spoil

16:17

the strength,

16:19

the energy of the march.

16:25

So the next day I told them

16:27

look we have a place now,

16:29

we know where we're going to start looking. So

16:32

we were there for three years digging

16:36

every day. That happened in August of

16:39

2016? Is that when you uncovered this grave? That's

16:45

when we began because you know it takes

16:47

time. We found 156 graves, 302 bodies were

16:49

there waiting

16:56

for us to bring them to the light.

16:59

And the authorities had

17:03

carried out a search over there already

17:05

but they didn't do a good job.

17:08

And how did you literally dig?

17:13

How did you later figure out actually

17:16

we can't just

17:18

dig, we need to come up with a way

17:20

to see if there's something

17:22

underground, we're going to use

17:24

sticks and we're going to

17:26

use our sense of smell. Yeah,

17:30

actually we took a course in

17:33

forensics. So they

17:37

taught us the basics. So

17:39

they teach us how not to damage the

17:41

bones but the

17:44

actual technique of

17:46

finding the bodies we learned

17:48

in Iguala with

17:51

the people who were looking for

17:53

the students from Ayotzinapa.

18:00

as protesters accused the Mexican government of

18:02

reacting slowly to the disappearance and apparent

18:05

murders of 43

18:07

students who attended a rural teachers college

18:09

and they're the ones who teach you to put

18:12

the stick into the ground and Depending

18:16

on the smell that comes out

18:18

from the stick that you've put into the

18:20

ground You'll know whether or not there's

18:22

a body underneath We

18:25

use it's it's two meters and a half

18:28

Usually like a pole made of

18:30

iron It's

18:33

it's one of those construction okay,

18:36

okay, and We

18:38

have a custom made because we have to

18:40

place Something on top like

18:42

a tee so that we can pull it

18:44

out We hammer

18:46

it into the ground completely all the

18:49

way in we have to

18:51

be very careful because you don't want to damage or break

18:53

the bones and Then once

18:56

we have the we

18:58

picked up the sense of smell We

19:01

we can make a hole so we

19:03

don't have to go around making holes without

19:06

having any idea and

19:08

then most of

19:10

the times if we pick up the smell on

19:12

the pole it's It's

19:15

usually a body. It's kind

19:18

of a very basic very primitive

19:20

kind of technique, but it works

19:22

it works for us Because we

19:24

we try to use dogs So

19:27

dogs didn't work. I Think

19:30

they are overpowered because there

19:32

were so many hmm and

19:34

the dogs didn't pick up anything

19:38

It feels Lucy that at this point in

19:40

the journey. It was like we've taken

19:42

control of our emotions so

19:45

now we're unstoppable because now we're just gonna

19:47

do all of the research all of the

19:49

work all of the data all of The

19:51

digging it feels like you just

19:53

there was a turn in the whole story

19:55

about as you said You know the emotions

19:58

went went to a different place Yeah,

20:01

because the pain is there.

20:03

It's there all the time, but

20:06

you learn to work around it. I

20:08

can tell you I was not expecting to see what I

20:11

have seen. So how do you

20:13

take care of each other? How do you support each

20:15

other as mothers of

20:18

the disappeared in Mexico? We

20:20

are very close. We are sisters because

20:23

pain is an equalizer. So

20:26

I try to give them workshops,

20:30

get people that teach

20:33

them how to do things that can

20:36

help them make a living. But

20:39

it's a sisterhood. In the group,

20:41

for example, we can talk about our

20:44

missing children all the time. Nobody

20:46

gets upset. Nobody complains. Because

20:49

in their houses, with their families, they

20:51

cannot talk about them anymore. Because

20:54

families, people complain. They say, he's

20:56

lost. You're never going to see

20:58

him again. So stop talking about

21:00

him or her. And

21:03

they get mad. But with us,

21:06

we can talk about them all the time. And

21:09

they are present all the time. It's

21:12

the one place where we can be

21:14

ourselves. Because that's what we are now. What

21:18

is at the center of our

21:20

lives is looking for our loved ones.

21:23

That's really incredibly powerful,

21:26

Lucia. So our

21:28

listeners don't know this, but you're speaking to

21:31

us from London, where you live these days.

21:34

That's a big change to

21:36

leave Veracruz and end up

21:38

in London. It's related

21:40

to my husband's work. But every

21:43

three months, I travel to Mexico. I'm

21:45

still in charge of the group. People

21:48

say, but are you going to be doing this

21:50

for the rest of your life? That's

21:53

exactly the way it looks. And

21:56

I don't mind. I

21:58

know I have to find my son, and not only my son. son

22:00

because it's not only about him anymore. If

22:03

I find him and I don't find the others, I'm not

22:05

going to be happy. I'm not going to be complete. So

22:08

I have to find them all. Or

22:12

at least continue trying. Can

22:15

you give us an update on the status

22:17

of the investigation of the disappearance of your

22:20

son Luis Guillermo? I

22:22

know things, but justice

22:25

in Mexico is non-existence.

22:28

They say that the official figure is 98%

22:31

impunity. I say it's 100%

22:35

because we are like 300 mothers

22:37

in the group and it may be a little bit more.

22:40

And none of

22:43

those cases has any

22:45

kind of justice so far. So

22:48

now I know that my son's

22:50

workers were involved. But

22:52

a lot of pieces are missing because

22:54

they've been so neglectful. And

22:56

I'm on top of the investigation all

22:59

the time, even from here. They really

23:02

just make it so hard so that

23:05

people say, okay, I give up. I'm

23:08

done with this. But that's not going

23:10

to happen. It's my son. How can

23:12

I say I give up? Something

23:14

is going to happen in Mexico this year that

23:17

is historic. Mexico will end

23:19

up having a woman

23:21

president elected this year.

23:23

And I'm wondering, have

23:25

you heard anything from

23:28

either candidate regarding Solicito

23:32

or your son or

23:34

the disappeared in Mexico? Not

23:37

so far, but I mean,

23:39

we don't get involved in

23:42

politics. Solicito is

23:44

so independent. We make our own money.

23:47

We do a lot of

23:49

things to collect the money that we need

23:51

for the searches, raffles,

23:54

bingos. We sell the

23:57

secondhand clothes. We don't

23:59

want to... be attached

24:01

to any kind of politician because

24:04

they would let you down eventually and

24:06

we cannot be let down

24:08

anymore. We've been let down

24:10

by everybody. So

24:12

that's it. That's no more. I

24:15

appreciate your independence. It's really something

24:17

to admire. Every

24:24

May 10th, the Isamayo is Mother's Day in

24:27

Mexico no matter what day it ends up.

24:29

You have two other grown adult

24:32

kids besides

24:35

Luiz Guillermo who

24:37

disappeared. And I want to

24:39

know what Mother's Day is like at

24:41

home for you. Do

24:43

you celebrate Mother's Day? For

24:48

us Mother's Day is just

24:50

another day for fighting. Trying

24:54

to do something for our missing children.

24:56

They are always at the center of

24:59

all those days. We

25:01

have the Mother's Day march.

25:06

I just find it so interesting that

25:08

as a Mexican mom, Mexican

25:10

Mother's Day has become, as you

25:12

say, a day of activism and just another day

25:14

to fight. Yeah. Like

25:17

before it meant a

25:19

present and maybe

25:21

a good time, today it means

25:24

so much more. We

25:26

don't celebrate anymore. My

25:29

other kids, they are in

25:32

their cruiser in Mexico at the time

25:34

we get together and we do a

25:37

little something. But our

25:40

fight is

25:42

really the core

25:44

of everything we do. Lucia,

25:48

thank you so much for spending some time with

25:50

me on this Mother's Day. I

25:52

really appreciate it, the Loyra Desco Mucho. And

25:56

good luck on your search for Luiz

25:58

Guillermo. And you

26:00

know, congratulations on being a grandma

26:02

also, because la vida continue ab.

26:06

Muchas gracias, Lucy. Gracias, Satie.

26:08

And toto, Yttori. Un abrazo.

26:41

This episode was produced by Roxana

26:44

Aguirre and edited by Andrea Lopez-Grucedo.

26:46

It was mixed by Julia

26:49

Caruso. The Latino USA team

26:51

also includes Victoria Strada, Reynaldo

26:53

Leaños Jr., Jonimar Marquez, Marta

26:55

Martinez, Mike Sargent, Noor

26:57

Saudi, and Nancy Trincillo.

26:59

Benilei Ramirez is our

27:01

co-executive producer. Our director

27:04

of engineering is Stephanie Labeau. Our

27:06

marketing manager is Luis Luna. Our

27:08

theme music was composed by Zega

27:11

Rubino. I'm your host and

27:13

co-executive producer, Mariano Hosa. Join

27:15

us again on our next episode.

27:17

In the meantime, I'll see you

27:19

on all of our social media,

27:22

which now includes TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,

27:24

Twitter, X, all of them. I'll

27:26

see you there and remember, not

27:28

de valles. Ciao.

27:32

Latino USA is made possible in part

27:34

by WK Kellogg

27:36

Foundation, a partner with communities

27:38

where children come first. New

27:41

York Women's Foundation, the New

27:43

York Women's Foundation, funding women

27:45

leaders that build solutions in

27:47

their communities and celebrating 30

27:50

years of radical generosity. And

27:53

funding for Latino USA's coverage of a culture

27:55

of health is made possible in part by

27:57

a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

28:00

Foundation. Support

28:06

for Latino USA comes from Odoo. What

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is Odoo? Well, Odoo is an

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