By Gloria Muñoz on May 5, 2026.
families searching for their loved ones in Mexico
It has been 17 months since they last heard from them, and today they are in Mexico to retrace the route they took and the point where they lost track of them. These are six Cuban families who overcame every obstacle to travel from Matanzas, Havana, Camagüey, and Santiago de Cuba to southern Mexico, where they last heard from them on December 21, 2024. That was the last contact.
The Cuban families are part of the Regional Network of Migrant Families, which every year organizes a search brigade for people from other countries who have gone missing on Mexican territory. If embarking on this journey is an ordeal for a Mexican family, for those coming from other countries the complications multiply. That is why Ana Enamorado of Honduras, mother of Oscar López Enamorado, who disappeared 16 years ago, founded the Network to continue the search for her son and for other migrants who have gone missing on the path to the American dream.
The mothers and grandmothers of six Cubans arrived in Chiapas today; they will travel to Tapachula and from there follow the path their children took starting in late 2024. From San José Hueyate, Chiapas, they received the last call in which their children told them that the coyotes would take them by boat to Juchitán, which did not happen.
In coordination with Mexican authorities, the mothers and grandmothers of the missing men and women will spend the coming days traveling the roads to find clues, traces, and information that might help locate them. They are optimistic; this is the first time they have left the island, and they do not intend to rest for a single minute “until they find them.” They speak of immense pain and despair, but make it clear that they have not lost hope. That is why they came.
This year’s international search brigade is made up of families from Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and mainly Cuba, as well as companions from Italy. They have divided into two groups: one consisting of Cuban families who have traveled to Chiapas, and the family of a Colombian man who went missing in Mexico City, who, accompanied by the “Hasta Encontrarles” collective, will search every corner of the country’s capital.
The families and the Network are grateful for all the support that Mexican society and authorities can provide. Their children left in search of work; they are young, and the families are certain they are still alive.