After a year and a half headless, the Executive Commission for Attention to Victims (CEAV) has a new head, Martha Yuriria Rodríguez, who arrives at an institution marked by the great challenges it faces in terms of attention and resources, activists agree.
The appointment, last December in the Senate, took place 18 months after the departure of Mara Gómez, who at the time left office after denouncing political interests within the CEAV, as well as a lack of institutional and economic support, a situation that was added to the historical demand of social organizations and groups of victims that demand reversing the serious crisis of attention to victims.
The main affected by the violence in the country maintain that, beyond providing economic resources, the CEAV should have a comprehensive vision of care, which includes real support in psychological, medical and legal assistance, in addition to leaving aside the long processes bureaucratic procedures that prevent people from being recognized as victims of violence.
CEAV figures indicate that, from 2014 to December 2020, there were at least 40,934 people registered in the National Registry of Victims (Renavi), both at the federal and state levels.
low in resources
Although over the years the number of victims has grown, the budget for the CEAV has not. In 2015, with 7,589 victims in the Renavi, the CEAV had 957.9 million pesos for its operation.
The following year (2016), when accounting for 8,806 cases; 1,217 more than the previous year, the resources for the commission were reduced by 4%, to settle at 918.5 million.
Three years later, in 2019, already with the current administration, and with 14,324 registered victims, the CEAV had the lowest budget since its creation, in 2015 (842.5 million pesos).
For 2022, the CEAV was assigned 958.2 million pesos, a figure similar to that of 2015.
Regarding the registry of victims, it is worth mentioning that the CEAV itself has recognized that, given the conditions in which Renavi was found, as of January 2020, it is not possible to guarantee the quality or reliability of its database.
Shortcomings and deficiencies
Yolanda Morán, executive director of the United Forces for Our Disappeared Búscame group and mother of Dan Jeeremel, a federal police officer who has disappeared since 2009 in Torreón Coahuila, does not hesitate to claim that, up to now, the CEAV has not become the institution that The victims expected so much, because, he says, “there are too many shortcomings and good leadership is needed.”
However, the activist is confident that, with the appointment of the new head, the agency will have a work plan that benefits families and improves shortcomings in the care of victims, in areas such as medical, legal, and psychological services.
“Right now the CEAV is unprotected, it is inefficient, since the law promised a lot to the victims and with this commission it has not really been that much (…) It lacks a lot of training, a lot of personnel, support in all senses ( …) There are many pretexts (in care), there are many shortcomings (…) it needs all the institutions to participate and for it to really work”, he maintains.
Liliana Lomelí, co-executive director of the Network of Women and Men for Public Opinion with a Gender Perspective of Campeche, an organization that accompanies victims, expressed that the new appointment sheds a light of hope on the work of the CEAV, since its new The incumbent has experience in the matter, however, he said, it must be recognized that this appointment comes with great challenges within the commission “that cannot be addressed solely by one person.”
He adds that given the urgency to attend to several outstanding CEAV issues, rebuilding a collaborative fabric between the institution and the victims is paramount, since mistrust has endured since its creation.
“The groups of victims, at all times, have been put in the background, they have been seen more with a welfare perspective and not from that leading role that they have,” he says.
Which, he adds, has caused the CEAV to lose credibility, which is a mistake that has dragged on for years.
maritza.perez@eleconomista.mx
