September 10, 2008

Marching for the missing: Mexicans protest increasing kidnap rate

MEXICO CITY (CNS)—Manuel Ramirez last saw his daughter Monica in December 2004, shortly before she was kidnapped in this sprawling metropolis of more than 20 million people. The family physician found out about the crime through a text message sent from her cellular phone, demanding a $25,000 ransom. A second message advised the father of three, “Prepare to live without her.” The final message, he recalled, “threatened to cut off her fingers.” Ramirez still carries the same bulky cellular flip phone that received the original messages, hoping to receive some news on Monica’s whereabouts. But it’s been more than three and a half years since the last message. “We never thought that we could be (victimized),” he said. “It’s completely changed our lives ... changed everything.” Ramirez and his extended family joined more than 100,000 protesters in Mexico City Aug. 30 for a march that demanded an end to a wave of violent crime and kidnapping that is engulfing the country. Thousands more demonstrated in other large cities throughout the country.