‘Mexico murder rate reaches record high’ Freedom Lecture

‘Mexico murder rate reaches record high (21,200 murders in 2017 so far). Around 99% of crimes in Mexico do not result in prosecution.’ This appeared in the NRC newspaper on 11 November of this year. And these figures only refer to the crimes that have been reported. The Mexican police force has been infiltrated by drug cartels and police officers are themselves often involved, so many citizens are reluctant to demand justice. In addition to the huge number of deaths, the number of missing persons in Mexico is thought to top 30,000. Mass graves are being uncovered all over the country. Having been failed by the state, relatives risk their own lives searching for missing loved ones.

Mexico lacks the social awareness and political will to do anything about these wrongdoings. Other countries in the region have more experience. For example, in the mid-1990s, Guatemala made an active effort to search for mass graves, and identify the victims and the perpetrators of the civil war. A similar process took place in Colombia as part of the recent peace agreement between the government and guerrillas. Can Mexico learn from these experiences? What needs to happen to turn the tide? And how will the elections in July 2018 help?

These and other questions form the basis for a discussion with freedom speaker and journalist Anabel Hernández, the Human Rights Tulip winner and activist Graciela Pérez Rodríguez, and Kathryne Bomberger (to be confirmed), director of the International Commission for Missing Persons. Journalist and Latin America expert Edwin Koopman will lead the discussion.

The Freedom Lecture will be delivered before the discussion. This event features the story of an international freedom advocate. De Balie in Amsterdam is organising the event for the twentieth time, and this year it will again also be coming to Het Nutshuis in The Hague. Special guest is the Mexican investigative journalist and activist Anabel Hernández, who rose to fame with her book Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and their Godfathers. Hernández has also written about slave labour, sexual exploitation and the abuse of power.

Moderator for the evening is Edwin Koopman, Latin America journalist and analyst for various media including Trouw, VPRO Bureau Buitenland, NOS and Clingendael Spectator. Koopman’s graduation project focused on the earthquake in Mexico (1985). He has lived in the country for a long time and reported on the drugs war and Mexican politics for the last 25 years. English will be spoken.

 www.nutshuis.nl

In cooperation with: De Balie, Justice & Peace, SMX Collective
Thanks to: Vfonds, Stichting Democratie en Media, Fonds 1818