The disappearance of 43 students who attended a rural teacher’s college in the state of Guerrero is a singular event in Mexican history. The students were taken captive by police and drug gangs on the night of September 26, 2014 in the city of Iguala; they have not been heard from since. It is a national drama, but also a personal and intimate one for the families trying to find the missing.
In southern Mexico, when you ask someone about their community, the answer is often given in terms of the number of families who live there. It is a reflection of the collective system in these decidedly indigenous communities. Around 70 families live in Omeapa, which was home to three of the young men who disappeared. Their families carry a grief that is hard to shutter inside their unassuming houses, which don’t have proper doors, just sheets hung in the entrance, blowing in the hot, dry wind. In Omeapa, as intimacy dissolves, private pain spills silently out of the three houses, runs through the lanes of the village, and the familial quickly becomes communal.
The photos in this essay, which is a companion to Intercept reporter Ryan Devereaux’s two–part investigation of the disappearance of the 43 students, document how these boys had grown into young men before they were taken away. The photos also document the lives of those who are left behind to cry, to cope, to continue the search. The pictures are an attempt to show the intangible qualities — the customs and traditions that have always existed in Omeapa — and new, atypical attributes of sorrow that will undoubtedly change the village and its inhabitants forever.
PHOTOGRAHY BY KEITH DANNEMILLER FOR THE INTERCEPT
Margarito Guerrero, father of Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz, one of the 43 missing students, sits in the living room of his house in Omeapa.
Keith Dannemiller
The mother and sister of Everardo Rodríguez Bello, one of the disappeared students, at their home in Omeapa.
Keith Dannemiller
A small altar with Day of the Dead flowers, candles and photos of Emiliano Alan Gaspar de la Cruz, one of the disappeared students, in a corner of his family’s house.
Keith Dannemiller
Keith Dannemiller
Keith Dannemiller
Keith Dannemiller
Brian Gaspar de la Cruz, brother of missing student Emiliano Gaspar de la Cruz, stands in the doorway of his family’s home.
Keith Dannemiller
Part 1 of Ryan Devereaux’s investigation here. Part 2 here.
Please Dear Ones, consider this scenario….. not only are there evil…EVIL people, there’s super human forces blowing their machinations upon man-kind. How on earth could mere men ever solve these cruel happenings? What ever could compensate these poor ones….as a matter of fact….millions of innocents that SEEM as though they are gone forever…and ever…and ever. Next time the Witnesses come to your door, ask about the real and lasting solution to these atrocities, actually to all atrocities ever committed. We have to have a super human government to combat these super human forces that are behind this army of evil….. all organizations of evil….. I am not crazy Sweetheart…. Just ask!
Echoing your thanks jgreen7801.
I’d like to think that maybe the story has some serious competition for remarks, and people just don’t remember to address the photographer with thanks for providing the photo art.
I don’t see skin color or nationality. I see fellow human beings in the state of uncertainty, hopelessness, and grieving for loved ones in the throes of poverty.
I also see world-wide economical and spiritual domination by the few elites (0.01%) at the expense of many; and the masses that can’t see the forest for the many branches of the trees.
This is the tragedy. If human beings could look within to rise above petty differences like religious beliefs, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, and a host of other false division points; they would be able to see the common ground upon which to unite.
Frankly, after a lifetime of attempting to fight ignorance and hate directed against all living beings to include the planet itself; I am progressively getting very tired.
It is time for the younger ones to rise. Hopefully they will fight and choose their causes wisely as most of humanity and the other gracious beings that populate Earth are in real danger of mass annihilation or extinction.
To be fair to those I insinuated had a bias toward whites or at the very minimum toward US citizens, I was one of them until I was mercifully allowed to break through the indoctrination we all receive at the hands of our puppet masters. For 2/3 of my 62 years, I swallowed their propaganda hook line and sinker. I too, am getting tired as I see the same cycles of ignorance and oppression repeating time and again. I also agree the earth and all its inhabitants are in real danger and unless the people can somehow unite, some bad things are coming our way. Even if we could unite tomorrow, at best, if that unity resulted in dramatic positive change, I believe some bad things would still be coming our way. Some calamity or earth shaking event seems necessary in order to wake the masses from their stupefied, propagandized existence. I truly fear for my kids and grandkids. Out of 4 kids, one of my daughters is aware of the impending crises looming ahead. The other three sense something is wrong but can’t break out of their stupor. Once again, I was like them until my eyes were opened. The problem is, you can’t pry people’s eyes open and make them see. The malignant global economic system we call free market capitalism is wearing out the planet like a threadbare garment, and it’s only a matter of time before the earth starts failing in ways noone will be able to ignore. This is one of those times that being wrong in an analysis of the situation would be a wonderful thing. In the meantime I’m going to enjoy life and give thatnks for that life. Goodnight all, and thanks to all who are fighting for a better world.
Thank you for the pictorial essay. You managed to put faces on the stories our MSM only briefly reported. Perhaps more people here would be interested if the 43 were a couple shades lighter, or at least if a couple of them were US citizens.