Several days ago, there was a news story about a Honduran migrant who called food given by charity to them “pig food.” The story was picked up by English and Spanish media, and she has become known as “Lady Frijoles.” She later apologized (source), but according to further reports the woman has since disappeared and nobody knows where she is:
Miriam Celaya, the Honduran migrant who rejected a plate of beans in a shelter in Tijuana, has been missing since Tuesday morning, after suffering death threats on social networks.
Her sister Mirna Celaya sent a video to HuffPost Mexico to denounce that since November 20 Miriam does not answer the cell phone and has not been seen as part of the migrant caravan; nothing is known about her or her little daughters. “I have not communicated with her again. Your phone is off. I send messages, I call him and he does not answer. I do not know anything about my sister since that day, “said Mirna Celaya, concerned about the physical integrity of her family.
Miriam Celaya was a victim in recent days of intense harassment in person and social networks by hundreds of Mexicans who threatened to harm her, including her 11-year-old deaf daughter, for not accepting a plate of beans. On November 15, journalist Aitor Saez, of the German chain Deutsche Welle, conducted a series of interviews with Central American migrants in a shelter in Tijuana, Baja California, to find out the conditions in which they were approaching the northern border of Mexico.
From the 4-minute report, someone extracted a 21-second fragment that circulated widely on social networks: Miriam Celaya, with her children, criticizing the food they were offered.
“Look what they are giving: pure ground beans, as if they were feeding the pigs. And no way, we have to eat that food because otherwise, we die of hunger, “said Miriam Celaya in the recording.
The journalist Aitor Saez himself acknowledged that the statements of the Honduran migrant were taken out of context and that this fragment was used with malice to inflame negative feelings against migrants. Then, hundreds harshly criticized Miriam and extrapolated her anti-immigrant hatred speech to the entire caravan.
A few days later, Miriam Celaya recorded a video in which she offered an apology to the Mexicans and acknowledged the solidarity of the people on their way to the United States, where she hopes to find a medical treatment that will restore her daughter’s hearing.
“We have walked all over Mexico and we have received a lot of help. I have everything to thank you for. I have raised my children with many efforts and giving them beans and tortillas, “he said. “They have given us food, clothing, medicine, when it was not their obligation.”
However, a wave of indignation and aggression against migrants had already begun. And Miriam Celaya was the target: from those who demanded her return to her country and not step on Mexican soil again to those who asked for her death as a warning to Central American migrants.
“At heart, I apologize for everything that is happening. And my sister apologized and, please, touch your heart. We are all human beings, we all make mistakes. The important thing is that she rectified and asked for forgiveness … I want to ask the Mexicans to touch their hearts, have compassion on my sister … “, said Mirna Celaya, before breaking into tears.
In the video, obtained through a migrant activist, Mirna reproduces the last audio message sent to her by her sister Miriam, who had warned her family that she was a victim of harassment: “My sister, I love you very much. I love you. May it be God’s will, not mine or anyone else’s, but his, ok? ”“I am very concerned. All my family, my dad is very worried about my sister. We do not know anything about her or the girls. I do not even know what to think. My sister is in danger because of everything that has happened, what has happened in the networks, threats, all the memes that have come up from her, the photographs. My sister is a humble person, she does not hurt anyone, her only mistake was that she said, but my sister apologized. He asked for forgiveness. They are in danger. ”
Today, neither Miriam or her daughters are seen. Your phone is off and your companions have not seen it. Your family does not know if you are hiding from your stalkers or if you are safe. (source)
Several questions come to mind here.
First, the talk by this woman, Miryam Celaya, bears a striking semblance to the same language used by the “refugees” brought into Europe, that when given free food they would reject it, complain, and even riot (see here, here, here, here, here)
Is it possible that Ms. Celaya was paid complain in order that her complaints would be used as propaganda?
There is no direct evidence to support she was, but at the same time, such a possibility should not be ruled out either.
It would be possible to consider that she was a plant, but if this was the case, why would her family have no knowledge at all of her whereabouts, especially because of the fact that the last communications with her said she was being harassed?
Could it be possible that, given how these “migrant groups” do not police themselves and that crimes can and do happen, committed by fellow migrants against other migrants, that a group of people heard what she said and murdered her and her children for fear of the impact her words might have on their ability to come to the US given the resurgence of nationalism?
Nobody is for sure right now. All that is known is that she is missing, and nobody knows what has happened to her.
If anything, it is a reminder to watch what one says even with the explosion of media, because one’s words do have consequences, and something they can be as unexpected as potentially dire and deadly.