Diego Hernandez, a 22-year-old Canadian martial arts instructor, was last seen in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on May 8, 2013, in a car with an American friend, Craig Silva. Their vehicle had been stopped by local police. Diego’s mother Melissa Canez learned about their disappearance four days later. On Mother’s Day. Since then Melissa, who runs a girls’ orphanage in Puerto Vallarta, has never stopped searching, and asking questions of Mexican authorities. Her story was told in a 16×9 exclusive, called “Disappeared.” Recently, Melissa wrote of her grief and frustration:
Every day I ask Diego where he is, I ask God where he is… I will of course never be at peace – how could I be? The only thing I can do is try to maintain a state of outward grace when my heart has been torn out by Mexico – a country of citizens paralyzed by fear.
READ MORE: 16X9: Missing in Mexico
Diego’s brother and sister… I know I have neglected, drowning in the pain. It is difficult to see them, hear their voices as they remind me of him – not wanting to see them because to see them is to not see him, to realize that this is not just a nightmare that will one day end – he is gone.
My boy is gone. The void will never be filled.
This child, this boy, this young man no longer walks, breathes, inspires, teaches, loves, laughs – how is this possible when people’s lives go on as if nothing has happened… will this all be forgotten?
WATCH BELOW: 16×9’s “Disappeared”
I don’t want to accept it . . . how can it be that nobody in a position to do so is going to do anything about it and for me to push any further is to basically wear a sign saying – I want to join my son wherever he is. Even the human rights commissioner (for the state of Jalisco) is terrified – her own brother was kidnapped – why did she choose this line of work? Then there is the mother in Mazatlan who dared to protest her son’s disappearance by police – they killed her outside the police station and from what I have heard nothing has been done about that either. Am I a bad mother because I haven’t thrown myself on the guillotine?
READ MORE: A Canadian disappears in Mexico: One year later
Mexico’s president appears to be focusing on the hottest areas (hot in terms of organized crime) like Michoacán… although we see on the news almost daily and in different areas that cops, government officials, judges are being put in jail for corruption…
I don’t think we will ever know where he is. It will be an eternally open wound. There will be no funeral. There will be no closure.
An encore presentation of 16×9’s “Disappeared” airs this Saturday at 7pm
- ‘Shock and disbelief’ after Manitoba school trustee’s Indigenous comments
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- Several baby products have been recalled by Health Canada. Here’s the list
- ‘Sciatica was gone’: hospital performs robot-assisted spinal surgery in Canadian first
Comments