According to data released by mexico's National Search Commission, nearly 100,000 people are still missing in Mexico today. Most of them have disappeared from the violence of the past 15 years of drug scuffles, many of whom have been killed by drug cartels and thrown in unnamed graves.
The families of the missing are still struggling to find them, traveling around the country and looking for them on their own.
In the 1960s and 1980s, the Mexican authorities began a "Dirty War" against the revolutionary movement. Since then-president Felipe Calderon began military action against drug cartels in 2006, the number of murders and disappearances has skyrocketed. Since then, there have been 300,000 recorded murders, 36,000 in 2020, and an average of 100 murders per day.
One mother, Charlin Unger, said in an interview with the BBC: "I know my son is dead and I don't know if I can find him. But I will go and look for every missing person. Whenever I find one, I feel like I've recovered a piece of my son's piece. Since 2019, she has been looking for her son Carlos Antonio.
Carlos, a victim of a drug melee in Mexico, was a recovering addict who was abducted at a rehab center party.
From the day Carlos was taken away, Charing never heard anything from his son. Due to the government's inability to search for the missing, Charing, along with other families, began risking their lives to find the missing family members themselves. They even contacted drug cartel killers to ask where the nameless grave where the body was dumped.
(Charing Unger)
Another devotee was Miguel Angel Trujillo, who had been on the journey longer than most. Miguel's four brothers were abducted when the drug war began a decade ago, and since then he has been scouring every corner of Mexico.
Miguel had found countless corpses and human bodies, but none of them belonged to his brother. "We want those who take them to know that as family, we will never get bored with the search." Miguel said.
(Miguel Angel Tuguireau)
Searching is stressful and heartbreaking. Charrin describes that she didn't just look, but looked closely, not just listening, but listening to the details, and she could feel the earth, "If that's nearby where the bodies are buried, you'll feel it." ”
A person with information took them to a safe house abandoned by a drug cartel. They found some personal belongings nearby, including bank cards and cell phones, but found no bones or human remains. Now, perhaps the best news for them is that the remains of the forensic doctors belong to the missing family.
Javier Sanchez Herrera, chief of forensic medicine in Mexico's Chihuahua state, said it was important to regain the trust of citizens. "Obviously, citizens have lost faith in the government now compared to ever before." The forensic department of Qihuahua State said 80 percent of the human remains they collected could be identified.
The victims' families dispute the figure of "80 per cent". In Sonora state, no one would expect so much government support because they feel that the disappearance of the missing is a complicity between the state government and drug dealers.
Just as important as finding family members is the searcher finding peace of mind in the group. Here they can talk, they can cry, they can scream, they can dance, they can laugh, and they don't criticize each other. Charing said that their whole world now is all about looking for missing people, and she is completely different now than she was two and a half years ago, "I am alive, but I am dead." ”
(Some families of the missing protested in Mexico City, where 43 students were missing at one school.)
The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances visited Mexico in November 2021, during which official figures were 95,121 people missing nationwide. In the 10 days of the United Nations visit, 100 people were missing.
In addition to the disappearances related to drug cartels, the 100,000 missing people also include those abducted by gangsters, victims of human trafficking, and even some people who have just been affected and appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time. The main missing groups are young people aged 15-30, often trapped in poverty.
In the La Bartolina area of the U.S. border with Mexico, there have been numerous acts of violence related to the drug trade and other organized crime. After 2017, half a ton of human remains were found here. One mother, who asked not to be named, said, "I just want a bone of my son to be buried next to my husband." "But this area is blocked and the families of the victims cannot enter.
A family member once asked, "If we don't look for them, who else will go looking for them?" ”
Nine Pai News Intern Reporter Yuan Jiabei