Missing for Half a Year: Cuban Nationals Among 40 Migrants Vanished in Mexico

On December 21, 2024, a group of 40 migrants from Cuba, Honduras, and Ecuador mysteriously vanished off the coast of Chiapas, Mexico. Six months have passed, and yet there has been no substantial effort from authorities to locate them. Families remain engulfed in uncertainty, facing extortion, threats, and a suffocating silence from institutions, as reported in a detailed piece by the Spanish newspaper, El País.

The publication retraces the steps of these migrants, who departed from the small village of San José El Hueyate, a known hub for human and goods trafficking heading north. On that day, they boarded two boats en route to Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca. At 8:25 a.m., their GPS signal was lost in the Pacific Ocean, mere meters from the shore, and since then, there has been no trace.

Among those missing are at least eight Cubans: Elianis Morejón (19), Dayranis Tan (33), Jorge Lozada (24), Meiling Bravo (40) and her son Samei Reyes (14), Lorena (28), Ricardo Hernández (33), and Jefferson Quindil (21), the latter being Ecuadorian but part of the Cuban families' search network.

Many embarked on their journey from Managua, Nicaragua, paying between $8,000 and $10,000 for what was promised to be a safe passage to Mexico City. Their initial meeting was in Tapachula, Chiapas, a city bordering Guatemala, from where they were transported to a house in San José El Hueyate.

Through messages, calls, and videos sent to relatives, it's known they lived under armed surveillance, in precarious conditions, and displayed signs of fear. On the 21st, before boarding the boats, several warned their loved ones: "We don't know how to swim," "they're putting life jackets on us," "there's gunfire nearby."

The group's last recorded location was at sea. Since then, multiple theories have emerged: that they were detained by Migration authorities, suffered a shipwreck, or were captured by organized crime.

Families have fallen victim to extortion, with fraudulent coyotes demanding ransoms, some exceeding $10,000, without providing proof of life. Neither the Chiapas Prosecutor's Office nor the Federal Attorney General's Office (FGR) has responded to complaints or conducted search operations. The Foundation for Justice, representing the families, has filed a complaint with the FGR.

"Not a single step has been taken to find them. It's as if the State erased them," warns Yesenia Váldez, a lawyer with the organization, as cited by El País.

In Mexico, over 129,000 people are missing. In 2024 alone, at least 237 migrants were reported missing en route to the United States, many in areas dominated by the Sinaloa Cartel or the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The Lost Cuban Dreams

El País highlights that Elianis Morejón, a Medical Radiophysics student from Colón, Cuba, dreamt of writing a book about her journey. "The last thing she told me was, 'Take care of Lulú,' her dog," her mother recalls tearfully.

Meiling Bravo and her son Samei Reyes left Havana seeking a better life. She worked in a bank; he was a technology-loving teenager who left high school behind.

Jorge Lozada from Santiago de Cuba aimed to reunite with his wife in the U.S. "I just want to bring my son, whatever it takes, I want him with me," his mother pleads from the island.

Ricardo Hernández, a Honduran, faced extortion, and his sister Lilian has tirelessly contacted Mexican authorities without success: "How can so many people disappear, and no one knows?" she questions.

Dayranis Tan from Camagüey aspired to work in Mexico to support her two children, now under her mother's care, who still holds hope of finding her.

The disappearance of these migrants starkly highlights institutional indifference and the unchecked rise of organized crime in southern Mexico. It also underscores a humanitarian crisis affecting hundreds of families across the continent. The mothers, fathers, sisters, and children of the missing do not ask for miracles. They seek answers. Justice. And their loved ones back.