We are heartbroken to share the news that Eddie passed away early this morning on July 31, 2024. We are keeping this fund open for continued support of his family, and now, his services. We will share more information when it is available. For now, thank you for your love and continued support. Eddie remains in our hearts as a beautiful human being, with a generous spirit.
These past weeks the entire NNiRR team and community have come together to support one of our own, our friend, board chair, and colleague Eduardo, “Eddie” Canales — a true hero in the immigrant rights movement. Eddie is currently battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer and is at home in Corpus Christi with his family, and needs our collective support. Please consider donating to the GoFundMe campaign for Eddie.
Through his small office in Falfurrias, Eddie, and the South Texas Human Rights Center have been a leading voice in denouncing militarized border policies at the local, national, and international levels. His work has been instrumental in saving migrant lives by building relationships with local landowners to set up water stations to prevent migrants from perishing. He has worked with and pressured law enforcement entities to rescue those who have gone lost or stranded. Under Eddie’s leadership, the South Texas Human Rights Center has developed strategic partnerships with research centers and international forensic teams to identify deceased migrants and reunify them with their families.
For years, Eddie brought first-hand testimonies to the UN and other global spaces, connecting with other civil society groups from around the world, pressing for human rights at borders, including in critical migration frameworks like the UN’s Global Compact for Migration. Just a couple of months ago in Geneva, Switzerland, he gave testimony and evidence about the crisis of missing migrants at the border before the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and pressed for changes to the Director of the US State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
We ask all of our friends, colleagues, and allies to support our friend Eddie, his family, and colleagues as they endure these difficult times.
Please donate to his GoFundMe campaign.
To learn more about our dear friend Eddie Canales, please take a moment to watch this video.
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