On May 19th, 2019 Eddy Carrillo's son Erick, who lived in San Diego, visited his father in Tijuana. He met with friends of his childhood and went out that night to celebrate but never returned to his father's house. That's when Eddy started a search for his son that would take five years.
As he realized that leaving this in the hands of the government would not bring his son back soon, Eddy decided to find him on his own.
Others with missing loved ones joined. As their numbers grew, the Todos Somos Erick Carrillo collective was funded. For the next five years, they would find around 1,659 missing persons, some alive but most of them just their remains.
At Erick's funeral, there was a considerable crowd of people from other states in Mexico who found their loved ones thanks to him and the collective.
Right in front of his son's coffin, Eddy called his ex-wife and Erick's mother to say. “Here is my son, I give him back to you, I finally brought him back home as I promised you. Five years and six months we stood up to fight when no one dared to look for him.”
The general feeling was a sensation of victory mixed with melancholy, but mainly a feeling of hope for all present who are still looking for their missing ones. They all shouted: “ Why do we look for them?... Because we love them! When do we stop?... Until we find them all.”
For now Eddy has declined to lead Todos Somos Erick Carrillo; instead, he is going to spread the word of his son's story among the collectives he worked with while looking for his son.
In Mexico, activists like Eddy are putting their lives in danger from cartels who have buried their murder or torture victims. Eddy's allies are mostly digging up mass graves people have anonymously reported to them. Most of the time the relatives have requested to be kept track of by the National Guard since more than once they got intimidated by gunshots while excavating in certain areas on the outskirts of the city.
Eric Carrillo is no longer part of the 99,729 missing persons reported in Mexico in 2024.
On May 19th, 2019 Eddy Carrillo's son Erick, who lived in San Diego, visited his father in Tijuana. He met with friends of his childhood and went out that night to celebrate but never returned to his father's house. That's when Eddy started a search for his son that would take five years.
As he realized that leaving this in the hands of the government would not bring his son back soon, Eddy decided to find him on his own.
Others with missing loved ones joined. As their numbers grew, the Todos Somos Erick Carrillo collective was funded. For the next five years, they would find around 1,659 missing persons, some alive but most of them just their remains.
At Erick's funeral, there was a considerable crowd of people from other states in Mexico who found their loved ones thanks to him and the collective.
Right in front of his son's coffin, Eddy called his ex-wife and Erick's mother to say. “Here is my son, I give him back to you, I finally brought him back home as I promised you. Five years and six months we stood up to fight when no one dared to look for him.”
The general feeling was a sensation of victory mixed with melancholy, but mainly a feeling of hope for all present who are still looking for their missing ones. They all shouted: “ Why do we look for them?... Because we love them! When do we stop?... Until we find them all.”
For now Eddy has declined to lead Todos Somos Erick Carrillo; instead, he is going to spread the word of his son's story among the collectives he worked with while looking for his son.
In Mexico, activists like Eddy are putting their lives in danger from cartels who have buried their murder or torture victims. Eddy's allies are mostly digging up mass graves people have anonymously reported to them. Most of the time the relatives have requested to be kept track of by the National Guard since more than once they got intimidated by gunshots while excavating in certain areas on the outskirts of the city.
Eric Carrillo is no longer part of the 99,729 missing persons reported in Mexico in 2024.