Thank you for visiting our Altar to honor the Mexican journalists murdered from Día de Muertos 2024 to Día de Muertos 2025….

A List From Previous Years:

We also honor the following Mexican journalists, writers, and media personalities whose work led to their lives being taken . . .

Song for the Dark Times

In the dark times, will there still be singing?

Bertolt Brecht

 

The mariposas have arrived.

My vecino tells me they are the souls of the dead come to visit.

My mother has now the splendid body of the Amazon Swallowtail, my Father,

as he would have loved, a Monarch.

A neighbor in Jalpa says the butterfly’s migration is in danger,

their comida in east Texas decimated by drought and char,

forests overlogged,

corn and soy modified to resist herbicides, and those sprays

have taken out the milkweed.

The butterflies improvise, change tactics and appetite:

fill ditches with the milagro of their trembling color,

turn fall’s flower gardens into tableau vivants,

 settle in boisterous clouds on maple and oak.

Here in the blue blue sky of October, that deep autumn shade,

they wing vivid, exuberant from their feast on cosmos,

also in final falling to seed.

Poetry is a farm of listening, grows the green of the Possible.

In an autumn of marigold and bee buzz,

Finality of nectars sweet as truth,

I say aloud the name of my mother, Suzanne Schack,

my father, Edward Schwartz.

I add the names of Los Muertos, the Ones who dared to write,

disclosed secrets kept in the pockets of Power,

the Ones that stood with what they knew:

…. ÁVILA GÓMEZ – MARÍA ELENA FERRAL – VÍCTOR FERNANDO APONTITO ÁLVAREZ CHÁVEZ – JORGE MIGUEL ARMENTA AVALOS – LUIS CASTILLO OSUNA – PABLO MORRUGARES PARAGUIRRE – LUIS EDUARDO OCHOA AGUILAR – JUAN NELCIO ESPINOZA – JULIO VALDIVIA – ROBERTO JAVIER MORA GARCÍA – FRANCISCO ORTIZ FRANCO – FRANCISCO ARRATIA SALDIERNA – RAÚL GIBB GUERRERO – HUGO BARRAGAN ORTIZ – ENRIQUE PEREA QUINTANILLA – MISAEL TAMAYO HERNÁNDEZ – JOSÉ MANUEL NAVA SÁNCHEZROBERTO MARCOS GARCÍA – ADOLFO SÁNCHEZ GUZMAN – RAÚL MARCIAL PÉREZ – SAÚL NOÉ MARTÍNEZ ORTEGA – GERARDO ISRAEL GARCIA PIMENTEL – FRANCISCO ORTIZ MONROY – BONIFACIO CRUZ SANTIAGO – ALFONSO CRUZ CRUZ – CANDELARIO PÉREZ PÉREZ – MIGUEL ÁNGEL GUTIÉRREZ ÁVILA – MIGUEL ANGEL VILLAGOMEZ VALLE – JOSÉ ARMANDO RODRÍGUEZ CARREÓN – CARLOS ORTEGA SAMPER – ELISEO BARRÓN HERNÁNDEZ – MARTIN JAVIER MIRANDA AVILÉS – ERNESTO MONTAÑEZ VALDIVIA – NORBERTO MIRANDA MADRID – JOSÉ BLADIMIR ANTUNA GARCÍA – JOSÉ ALBERTO VELAZQUEZ LÓPEZ – VALENTÍN VALDÉS ESPINOSA – JORGE ALBERTO OCHOA MARTÍNEZ – JORGE RÁBAGO VALDEZ – EVARISTO PACHECO SOLIS – ENRIQUE VILLICANA PALOMARES – JUAN FRANCISCO RODRÍGUEZ RÍOS – HUGO ALFREDO OLIVERA CARTAS – CARLOS ALBERTO GUAJARDO ROMERO – SUSANA CHAVEZ CASTILLO – NOEL LÓPEZ OLGUIN – PABLO RUELAS BARRAZA – MIGUEL ÁNGEL LÓPEZ VELASCO – MARÍA ELVIRA HERNÁNDEZ GALENA – ÁNGEL CASTILLO CORONA – YOLANDA ORDAZ DE LA CRUZ – HUMBERTO MILLAN SALAZAR – ANA MARÍA MARCELA YARCE VIVEROS – MARÍA ELIZABETH MACÍAS CASTRO – EL RASCATRIPAS (PEN NAME) – RAÚL REGULO GARZA QUIRINO – GUILLERMO FERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA – HÉCTOR JAVIER SALINAS AGUIRRE – JAVIER MOYA MUÑOZ – REGINA MARTÍNEZ – RENÉ ORTA SALGADO – MARCO ANTONIO ÁVILA GARCÍA – VICTOR MANUEL BAEZ CHINO – RAMÓN ABEL LÓPEZ AGUILAR – ADRIAN SILVA MORENO – JAIME GUADALUPE GONZÁLEZ DOMÍNGUEZ – MARIO RICARDO CHÁVEZ JORGE – ALBERTO LÓPEZ BELLO -MIGUEL ÁNGEL GUZMAN GARDUÑO – GREGORIO JIMÉNEZ DE LA CRUZ (“GOYO”) – JORGE TORRES PALACIOS – OCTAVIO ROJAS HERNÁNDEZ – VÍCTOR PÉREZ PÉREZ – JESÚS ANTONIO GAMBOA URÍAS (“EL TONY GAMBOA”) -MARÍA DEL ROSARIO FUENTES RUBIO – JOSÉ MOISÉS SANCHEZ CEREZO – FILADELFO SANCHEZ SARMIENTO – ISMAEL DÍAZ LÓPEZ – JUAN MENDOZA DELGADO – GERARDO NIETO ÁLVAREZ – MARCOS HERNÁNDEZ BAUTISTA – ANABEL FLORES SALAZAR – FRANCISCO PACHECO BELTRÁN – MANUEL TORRES GONZÁLEZ – ELIDIO RAMOS ZARATE – ZAMIRA ESTHER BAUTISTA LUNA – PEDRO TAMAYO ROSAS – AURELIO CABRERA CAMPOS – JESÚS ADRIÁN RODRIGUEZ SAMANIEGO – CECILIO PINEDA BIRTO – RICARDO MONLUI CABRERA – MIROSLAVA BREACH VELDUCEA – MAXIMINO RODRÍGUEZ PALACIOS – FILIBERTO ÁLVAREZ LANDEROS – JUAN CARLOS HERNÁNDEZ RÍOS – JAVIER VALDEZ CÁRDENAS -JONATHAN RODRÍGUEZ CORDOVA – LUCIANO RIVERA – EDGAR DANIEL ESQUEDA CASTRO – JAVIER LUCERO – SALVADOR ADAME PARDO – CANDIDO RIOS VÁZQUEZ – MARCELA DE JESUS NATALIA – JUAN JOSÉ ROLDAN AVILA – JESÚS ALEJANDRO MARQUEZ JIMÉNEZ – DIEGO GARCÍA CORONA – RAFAEL MURUA MANRÍQUEZ – JESÚS RAMOS RODRÍGUEZ – REYNALDO LÓPEZ SALAS – SAMIR FLORES SOBERANES – SANTIAGO BARROSO ALFARO – OMAR IVAN CAMACHO – TELESFORO SANTIAGO ENRÍQUEZ – FRANCISCO ROMERO DÍAZ – NORMA SARABIA GARDUZA – JUAN ESCAMILLA BAUTISTA – ROGELIO BARRACÁN PÉREZ – EDGAR ALBERTO NAVA LÓPEZ – JORGE CELESTINO RUIZ VASQUEZ – NEVITH CONDÉS JARAMILLO JOSÉ LUIS GAMBOA ARENAS – MARGARITO MARTÍNAS ESQUIVEL – LOURDES MALDONADO LÓPEZ ROBERTO TOLEDO BARRERA – HEBER LÓPEZ VÁZQUEZ – MICHELLE PÉREZ TADEO – JORGE CAMERO – JUAN CARLOS MUNIZ – ARMANDO LINARES LÓPEZ – LUIS ENRIQUE RAMÍREZ – YESSENIA MOLLINEDO – SHEILA JOHANA GARCÍA OLIVERA, MARCO AURELIO RAMÍREZ HERNÁNDEZ, LUIS MARTÍN SÁNCHEZ IÑÍGUEZ, NELSON MATUS PEÑA, JESÚS GUTIÉRREZ VERGARA, ISMAEL VILLAGÓMEZ TAPIA, ROBERTO CARLOS FIGUEROA, VÍCTOR ALFONSO CULEBRO MORALES, ALEJANDRO ALFREDO MARTÍNEZ NOGUEZ, VÍCTOR MANUEL JIMÉNEZ CAMPOS, MAURICIO CRUZ SOLÍS, PATRICIA RAMÍREZ GONZÁLEZ…

AND ALL WHOSE NAMES WE MAY NOT KNOW.

“Every journalist who dares to speak the truth faces danger, yet their courage lights the path for all of us. Remembering those killed is not enough; we must demand justice, protection, and a world where truth can be spoken without fear”.

Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President

Only with ongoing donations like yours has PEN International been able to defend freedom of expression, protect writers at risk, defend linguistic rights, and promote literature across frontiers for 100 years.