Two Oscar-winning films shed light on the thousands of disappeared people in Latin America

MEXICO CITY (AP) — If there is a still open wound in Latin America, it is that of the tens of thousands of disappeared people and decadeslong pain that has accumulated in parts of the region such as Mexico and Colombia.

Two visions of the trauma had a central role at the 97th Academy Awards: the Brazilian film "Ainda Estou Aqui" ("I'm Still Here"), which tells the drama of the family of a leftist former congressman who disappeared in 1971 at the height of the military dictatorship; and the musical "Emilia Pérez," about a fictional Mexican drug lord who leaves a life of crime to become a transgender woman and searcher for the disappeared in Mexico.

“We hope that in this way the society will be sensitized,” said activist Indira Navarro, who directs the Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco collective in Mexico and has been searching for her brother, who disappeared in the northern state of Sonora nine years ago.

The Academy Awards’ recognition of the films, both of which were nominated in multiple categories, was an unparalleled opportunity to make the problem visible, Navarro said.

"I'm Still Here," by Brazilian Walter Salles, won the Oscar in the category of best international film. "Emilia Pérez," by renowned French director Jacques Audiard, was this year's most-nominated film and won in the categories of best original song and best supporting actress for Zoe Saldaña.

Salles and Audiard’s films also had a common denominator of disappearances in Latin America: impunity.

The story behind ‘I’m Still Here’

“I’m Still Here” was inspired by the book “Ainda Estou Aqui” by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, son of the disappeared former congressman Rubens Paiva. More than five decades after he was taken from his Rio de Janeiro home and disappeared, none of those responsible for Paiva’s case have been held accountable.

His widow, Eunice, and their five children have sought justice for years. His family had to wait 40 years to receive his death certificate and even longer for the authorities to recognize that he, like others, died in the context of the violence of the military dictatorship.

Salles, accepting the award, said from the Oscars stage: “This goes to a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend and to resist…Her name is Eunice Paiva.”

Marcelo Rubens Paiva told The Associated Press of the impact of the Oscars recognition: "People everywhere are afraid of watching their democracies become dictatorships… This movie glorifies democracy and the understanding that human rights, empathy are in short supply."

The disappeared in Mexico

In the case of "Emilia Pérez" the central character, a drug trafficker nicknamed Manitas del Monte ( Karla Sofia Gascón ), tries to vindicate his years as a criminal looking for disappeared people along with lawyer Rita Castro (Saldaña). He never pays for his crimes nor are those responsible for disappearances held accountable before the Mexican justice system.

That is very similar to the reality in Mexico, where according to official figures there are currently 123,147 disappeared.

The United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances acknowledged in a report it presented in April 2022, after a visit to Mexico, that only between 2% and 6% of cases of disappearances were prosecuted.

“Organized crime has become a central perpetrator of disappearances in Mexico, with varying degrees of participation, acquiescence or omission of public servants,” the committee said.

The phenomenon of disappearances in Mexico began in the 1960s, but the numbers skyrocketed from the 2000s with the increase in drug trafficking activities and the war against cartels undertaken by the government of then-President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012).

In Mexico the search for many disappeared rests on the shoulders of their relatives who, with scarce resources and without protection from the authorities, enter regions controlled by criminals to search for their loved ones.

That’s true for Navarro, who spoke Monday while searching a grave in western state of Jalisco that she and other activists located. She said she hopes the Oscars will serve as “a wake-up call for the whole world and to know what we are really experiencing here in Mexico.”

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