A collective of mothers searching for disappeared relatives will march through Tijuana on Saturday, May 10, turning Mexico’s Mother’s Day into a protest demanding justice and answers from state prosecutors.
The group Una Nación Buscando-T announced it will gather at 10 a.m. at the Glorieta Cuauhtémoc in the Zona Río district. From there, marchers will walk to the headquarters of the FGE (Fiscalía General del Estado, the state attorney general’s office) before finishing at the Monument to the Mother outside Tijuana’s City Hall.
No Celebration for Families of the Missing
Spokesperson Angélica Ramírez said the holiday holds no celebration for families still searching morgues, DNA databases, and streets for their loved ones. The collective leveled sharp criticism at the FGE, alleging that constant turnover among investigative agents has left some prosecutors who do not even know the names on their own case files.
Ramírez called for a dedicated missing persons unit within the FGE to centralize information and generate new investigative leads. Without that structure, she said, cases stall each time a new agent takes over.
A National Crisis Felt Locally
The Tijuana march is part of a broader national movement. Across Mexico on May 10, thousands of searching mothers held protests in Mexico City, Jalisco, Nuevo León, and other states. According to Mexico’s national registry, more than 127,000 people have been reported disappeared nationwide since 1964. Amnesty International Mexico’s executive director, Edith Olivares Ferreto, told reporters that mothers search “with their hands, with picks and shovels” because the state does not search for missing persons.
An estimated four million Mexican women, roughly 10% of mothers in the country, no longer celebrate Mother’s Day because one or more of their children have disappeared. In Baja California, searching collectives have conducted field searches in remote areas outside Tijuana, including Valle de las Palmas, where remains have been found in previous years.
What to Expect on Sunday Morning
The march route passes through Zona Río, one of Tijuana’s main commercial and dining corridors. Drivers heading to or from the San Ysidro border crossing via Boulevard Agua Caliente or Paseo de los Héroes should expect delays between 10 a.m. and early afternoon.
The story was first reported by Jornada BC.