At the same time, the racial dimension of this problem reveals how, in addition to imposing a constant social state of fear, enforced disappearances involve the creation of two castes: those susceptible and those not susceptible to disappearance. Brazil, for example, documented 80.000 disappearances in 2019, an average of 217 a day. Most of the victims were Black, young, and poor. Emblematic cases as that of Amarildo, a poor, Black favela resident who went missing in 2012, have caused strong public commotion at home and abroad. But the truth remains hidden (or ignored) by an unequal justice system, covered up by the hundreds of people who disappear on a daily basis.
in view of the disturbing situation of those affected by the disappearances, "Vivos" illustrates how those left behind find strength in the struggle for justice and for the end of State-led kidnapping structures. Six years after the case, friends and relatives of the 43 of Ayotzinapa continue to take to the streets under the plea ‘They took them alive. We want them back alive’. Inevitably, the plea echoes historical movements in the region, such as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, who have spent the last four decades fighting for the truth about their children who disappeared during the country’s military dictatorship.
Finally, as a documentary about those who stayed, “Vivos” reminds us that, after decades of democracy, the rule of law in Latin America is still under construction. And that the fight for justice and truth must be our cornerstone.
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