The Searching Mothers of Mexico

Mothers Searching For Loved Ones Become Target for Cartels

Las Madres Buscadoras de Sonora or “The Searching Mothers of Sonora” are a group of women who are mothers and housewives and who dedicate their free time to finding the bodies of their kidnapped sons and husbands. As a result of efforts to find mass graves, a 28 year old woman in the group, Aranza Ramos, was executed on the 15th of July 2021 by cartel sicarios. She had started helping the group search for bodies in December of 2020 after her husband Brayan Celaya disappeared. These kidnappings and disappearances are not an uncommon occurrence. Most citizens and journalists in Mexico are too afraid to even discuss the fact that this is happening. The leader of the collective of women, Cecilia Flores Armenta, announced in July 2021 she had received death threats due to her efforts to find the disappeared or “los desaparecidos” by cartel members after the assassination of Aranza Ramos in Ejido Ortiz, in the municipality of Guaymas in Sonora, Mexico.