Mexico City, Mexico – Families of missing persons in Mexico issued a statement on March 18 expressing concern regarding the legal initiative pushed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to hamper disappearances in Mexico.
That same day, President Sheinbaum had announced a constitutional reform package to hamper disappearances in Mexico following the harrowing discovery of an underground burial site and mass extermination camp allegedly linked to the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG) in Teuchitlan, Jalisco – a state that leads Mexico with 15,015 documented cases of disappearances.
However, the string of constitutional reforms announced by Sheinbaum during her morning briefing falls short of the ongoing crisis and level of impunity surrounding disappearances in Mexico, according to families of the missing.
“The families of missing persons saw and heard your response to the crisis of disappearances, which worsens every day. We are deeply concerned about the proposal you are making, as it reflects a lack of understanding of the institutional mechanisms and procedures that already exist in the country regarding search and investigation,” read the statement.
According to the activists, Sheinbaum’s bills are only strengthening already existing organisms and pushing for already existing laws while taking steps backward regarding impunity.
Specifically, Sheinbaum intends to strengthen the National Search Commission (CNB) and the Executive Commission for Victims Attention (CEAV), in both cases the organisms were subjected to budget cuts, however, the relatives of the missing had said that more resources to both bodies would be pointless under the current administration.
The statement pointed directly toward the head of the CNB, Teresa Guadalupe Reyes Sahagún, who has been criticized for her dismissive attitude towards the families.
Moreover, one of Sheinbaum’s intended bills looked to equate forceful disappearances with kidnapping as a crime which has met with condemnation by the families:
“For a long time, we have understood that the search for our relatives responds to dynamics different from those of the crime of kidnapping. Making this proposal is a clear indication of not understanding criminal dynamics, as well as a clear setback in terms of investigation,” the wrote.
Other proposals from Sheinbaum seek protocols that ensure an immediate investigation after the report of a missing person, the creation of a unique database to facilitate the location of individuals and monthly statistics.
However, these proposals have been rejected by the families who have claimed that the problem behind the crisis is not a lack of laws or protocols but the lack of political will to end the impunity that reigns in the country.
Sheinbaum’s row with the families of the disappeared unfolds as the country continues to witness the latest example of the mass disappearance crisis in Mexico.
Rancho Izaguirre
On March 5, Buscadores Guerreros Jalisco, a civilian organization dedicated to searching for disappeared people in the country, reported the discovery of a small ranch concealing what is suspected to be the discarded remains of an unknown number of people, clothing, personal belongings and furnaces in which the cartel is believed to have incinerated their victims.
Far from being an underground burial site, the searchers believe that “Rancho Izaguirre,” the name of the landmark, operated as a forceful recruitment and training center for people abducted by the cartel to incorporate them into its troops by force.
The discovery sparked national outrage as the length of the horrors in Rancho Izaguirre is yet to be uncovered by authorities.
On a daily basis, the prosecutor’s office updates a Google Drive document with photos and descriptions of the personal belongings found on the ranch so that families with disappeared relatives can search for items such as pants, shirts, jackets, or backpacks that may resemble those that their loved ones wore the last day they were seen.
So far, authorities have recorded 154 pairs of shoes.
There have been a staggering 123,351 people disappeared in Mexico since the 1950s, according to the National Search Commission. In the past six years, a person has gone missing every hour in Mexico.
