Mexico Wake Up! Artists United for Peace Go Viral

The violence and impunity Mexico has been facing these past years have prompted artists, creators and media to join forces and launch a campaign to change statistics into names and stories. Through a collaborative project they are asking viewers to research other casualties and give voices to the victims of violence.

Artists have recorded several videos telling some of the stories of people who were murdered in Mexico. For example, singer Ely Guerra recorded herself speaking as Marisela Escobedo, a mother who fought to see justice for her daughter's death. Although her daughter's husband confessed to killing his wife, the authorities declared that there wasn't enough evidence.

After she managed to get him to trial once again, he was declared innocent a second time.  Marisela Escobedo was murdered in front of the Justice Palace, where she was protesting and rallying for justice  for her daughter. Both  Marisela and her daughter's murders are still unpunished.

The full story in English can be found in the video's description:

Proyecto Ambulante [es] website describes the next video [es]:

Leonardo Amador Rivas trabajaba en la discoteca News Divine y perdió la vida el 20 de Junio del 2008, junto a otros 11 jóvenes. Un operativo de la policía en el lugar, sin organización, actuando con negligencia y regidos por la criminalización de estos jóvenes, acabó con sus vidas.

Piro Pendas (Ritmo Peligroso), músico mexicano, le da voz a la historia de Leonardo, que es la historia de nuestro país.

Leonardo Amador Rivas worked in the News Divine disco where he lost his live on June 20th 2008 along with 11 other young men. A police operation in the place, without any organization, acting negligently and ruled by the criminalizing of these young men, ended their lives.

Piro Pendas (Ritmo Peligroso), Mexican musician, gives voice to Leonardo's story, which is the story of our country.

Fifteen year old Victoria Castro from El Salvador was one of 72 migrants massacred in Mexico while trying to get to the United States. She tells her story through Diana García, a Mexican actress.

A call for citizen videos has been made through social network Facebook, hoping that viewers will take the time to research the story of one of the victims of violence and tell their story. All videos end with a commentary on how these crimes are only possible through the lawlessness and corruption of the Mexican State and urge their country to wake up. There is no deadline for the videos, since it is an ongoing project.

Los invitamos a participar en un video colectivo que pretende darle voz y vida a los que la perdieron en manos de la guerra contra el narco, de la impunidad y corrupción, en manos de la violencia que se vive actualmente en nuestro país. Los nombres se cambian por números y esto nos hace ajenos a la tragedia. Cada víctima tiene nombre y detrás de él existe una vida, una historia, una familia. La tragedia es nuestra, no de alguien más.

We invite you to participate in a collective video that means to give life and voice to those who lost them in hands of the war against drug trafficking, impunity and corruption, in the hands of the violence we live through currently in our country. The names are changed into numbers and this distances us from the tragedy. Each victim has a name, and behind the name is a life, a story, a family. The tragedy is ours, not someone else's.

Carlo Avilés gives voice to Juan Carlos Medrano, who when celebrating the triumph of his basketball team was murdered when an armed group arrived at the house were they were celebrating and started shooting. His best friend carried him to the hospital, but he didn't recover and died 48 hours after. Fourteen other youth were killed and about 20 others injured. All of them were between 15 and 20 years old.

Mexican online magazine Marvin [es] described the project:

Utilizando herramientas como YouTube y las redes sociales para crear fenómenos virales, “Nuestras vidas, nuestros nombres” pretende generar una consciencia colectiva acerca de las tragedias que vivimos a diario en nuestro país. La violencia no es solamente la que vemos en los medios, la violencia inicia en los hogares, y desde ahí es desde donde se tiene que generar una cultura anti-violencia.

Using tools such as YouTube and social networks to create viral phenomena, “Our Lives, Our Names” hopes to generate a collective consciousness regarding the tragedies lived daily in our country. Violence is not only something we see in the media, violence starts in the homes and from there is where we must start the process of generating an anti-violence culture.
Thumbnail and featured image shows bullet, by Flickr user elbragon (CC BY 2.0).

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