More than 114,000 people have been registered as missing and forcibly disappeared since 1962.
CALL ON MEXICO FOR SEARCHES, TRUTH, AND JUSTICE FOR THE DISAPPEARED!
Recent changes by the government are hindering efforts to find missing and disappeared people in Mexico.
More than 114,000 people have been registered as missing and forcibly disappeared since 1962. Last May, the federal government launched a questionable strategy to respond to this crisis.
On December 14, 2023, Mexico’s President and Interior Ministry shared a new registry that considerably decreased the number of disappeared people. The officials acknowledged that searches would not be conducted for 80,000 people, considered in August 2023 as disappeared and missing, who have now been reclassified in ambiguous categories.
On December 18, collectives of family members of the disappeared denounced lack of transparency and possible manipulation of data. Civil society organizations and activists fear that lowering the official number of the disappeared is being done to hide the failure of federal public security policies.
In 2023 alone, over 12,000 new cases of missing or disappeared people were reported. Families looking for their missing loved ones continue to face serious risks, including threats, violence or enforced disappearance themselves.
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For further background on this case including letter writing, please read the original Urgent Action.
Top image: Mothers of the disappeared take part in a public demonstration in Mexico City, with masks that say: “Where are they?”. Photo: Ricardo Ramírez Arriola for Amnesty International.
