Delia Quiroa is a Mexican lawyer and activist advocating for the return of the disappeared or missing people and an end to forceful disappearance and kidnapping by cartels in Mexico. She is the founder of March 10 Searching Mothers Collective – an organization focused on mobilizing resources for searching for the disappeared people.[1]

Activism

Delia Quiroa became an activist following the disappearance of his brother Roberto in 2013 by men suspected to be members of the Gulf Cartel. The cartel members had demanded payment of an illegal levy from the restaurant in Reynosa city operated by their mother Maria Valdez but Roberto opposed the payment. Days later Roberto was kidnapped and his family fled the town.[2]

Quiroa began searching for her brother, and in the cause of her search, she met Ceci Flores who was searching for her missing sons. Following their encounter, Quiroa became a member of Searching Mothers of Sonora – an organization founded by Ceci Flores focused on searching for the missing people. The group organize search parties with anti-kidnapping unit of the police but police was inefficient due to lack of fuel and frequent break down of patrol vehicles. In 2021, Quiroa and her group abandoned the police and decided to reach out directly to the cartels in Sinaloa and Sonora by posting messages on social media making different requests to the cartel.  In one of the messages, Flores made a plea to the cartels: “I’m reaching out to the leaders of the cartels.[3] We’re not looking for justice, all we want is to find our missing loved ones and give them a proper burial,”. The group then posted a specific message on social media requesting the cartels to allow them search La Bartolina, a mass gravesite close to the U.S. border on the Gulf Coast. They asked the cartels to drop a banner by the border fence if they approve their request to search the forest for missing people.[4] Days later, a banner was found and the Searching Mothers went into forest where they discovered and excavated a mass grave containing human skeletons.[5]

Later Quiroa founded March 10 Searching Mother's Collective, with the aim of gathering resources to continue the search for the disappeared.

References

  1. ↑ Vega, Carlos (2023-07-19). "Delia Quiroga habla del propósito de vestir así a la Barbie Buscadora". Grupo Milenio (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  2. ↑ Querétaro, Elizabeth OrtizLicenciada en periodismo y comunicación por la Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro Maestría en Generación y Gestión de la Innovación en la UDGVirtual Colaboradora en medios impresos como a m; datos, periódico Mural y NTR Experiencia en periodismo de; Mexicana, educación y salud Estudiante del nivel avanzado de Lengua de Señas (2023-07-19). "Colectivos de desaparecidos consideran a la Barbie buscadora como una "aberración"; normaliza el fenómeno". UDG TV (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  3. ↑ Goodyear, Sheena (2 June 2023). "She lost her brother 9 years ago. Now she's trying to forge peace with Mexico's cartels". CBC.
  4. ↑ Barragán, Almudena (2023-07-12). "Desperate mothers in Mexico negotiate with drug cartels in search of missing loved ones". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  5. ↑ "Remains of 42 people found in northern Mexican state". Reuters. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
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