Long live Carmelo!

Our dear comrade and friend, Carmelo Monge  – also known as Máximo Olivares or Olivares Máximo – passed away on July 23rd due to an accident while swimming on the Outaouais river. We don’t have much information, except that this happened after he spent some beautiful days with friends on the Outaouais river. Carmelo’s body is now in Montreal and in the next few days, we will have more details relating to the cause of his death. Over the next days, we will inform you of the date and location of funeral services for our friend, where we hope to pay tribute to him and spend time together on his behalf, remembering beautiful times in his company.

Carmelo arrived in Montreal in 2008 and, since then, became a defender of migrant rights. Involved in Mexicans United for Regularization, Solidarity Across Borders, the Immigrant Workers Centre, Radio Centre-Ville, and the IWC Artist Bloc, Carmelo was known by all.  His home was a sanctuary, a refuge, he was always there for others. Carmelo contributed to our community in many ways, embodying the solidarity and dignity that we heard him speak to in so many migrant justice interventions.

Even if many of his friends are here in Montreal, his blood family is in Mexico and would like to be able to say goodbye to him on his land, where he was born and where worked for Indigenous and student movements. In order to cover the expenses that this tragedy entails, we are organizing a fundraiser. The objective of this campaign is to collect $20,000, which will cover funeral costs and the repatriation of his body. We don’t know the exact costs, but any additional funds will be given to Carmelo’s son, as our friend would have wanted.

→ E-transfer – Send an e-transfer to: solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com (Please put a note “Carmelo” when you send the e-transfer so we know it’s for this fundraiser)

→By cheque – Cheques can be made out in the name of “Solidarité sans frontières” and sent to

Solidarity Across Borders
CP 65083 BP MOZART
MONTRÉAL, QC
H2S 2S0

(Please put a note “Carmelo” so we know it’s for this fundraiser)

→ Online / PayPal : solidarityacrossborders.org/don

(Please put a note “Carmelo” when you send the e-transfer so we know it’s for this fundraiser)

→ A Cash Donation can be sent to:

Solidarity Across Borders
CP 65083 BP MOZART
MONTRÉAL, QC
H2S 2S0

(Please put a note “Carmelo” so we know it’s for this fundraiser)

Update, July 28, 2021
At the Rivière d’Outaouais, on Friday July 23, 2021, passed away, at the age of 50, CARMELO MONGE ROSAS, survived by his children, his father, his brothers and sisters, as well as his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, his nephews and nieces, several other relatives and his many friends in Mexico and Canada. Visits will be held at the Magnus Poirier funeral complex, located at 7388 boul. Viau in St-Léonard, H1S 2N9, Friday July 30, 2021 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. A tribute to his life will be held that same day. The funeral will be at a later date at his village of Tacopan (Puebla), Mexico, followed by interment in the same location. You are invited to send a message of condolence to the family by pressing the “message of condolence” button on this page: https://www.magnuspoirier.com/fr/avis-de-deces/102363/carmelo-monge-rosas.