This article was originally published by Jorge Rocha in Aztec Reports, a sister publication.
More than 100,000 people are missing in Mexico according to a special report published by investigative media Quinto Elemento Lab this week, highlighting a crisis that eclipses other countries in the region.
the investigation, Extinction Fragmentswhich includes data from the past 50 years, explains how disappearances became a nationwide humanitarian crisis and how different factors such as age and gender play a role in disappearances.
For example, while men are the main victims of disappearances, accounting for 75% of total cases, women in the country have experienced increasing incidences over time.
In 1968, Mexico recorded the first case of a missing woman. Almost 50 years later, that number has grown to 24,750. Moreover, the number skyrocketed in recent years. As of 2006, Mexico recorded 71 missing women, and as of 2022 there are 19,813 women still missing.
In 2009, authorities reported 63 missing children. In 2021, this number exceeded 550 cases. Furthermore, the report found that adolescents aged 13 to 17 are the most at risk, accounting for 12.5% of total disappearances or 10,400 missing adolescents.
The figures are more than double for teenage girls than teenage boys, highlighting an alarming trend in gender-based disappearances among young women. For example, in the state of Mexico, there are 377 reports of missing male teenagers, while female teenagers total 988 cases.
After adolescence, the trend appears to reverse, with males becoming the most vulnerable to extinction after reaching the age of 17. Men between the ages of 25 and 29 are reported to be the most vulnerable to extinction.
The inquiry argues that Mexico is experiencing a humanitarian crisis that has flared up particularly over the past 15 years, during which time 80,000 of the 100,000 disappeared.
Other Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Argentina, have suffered many forced extinctions throughout their histories. Colombia counts more than 100,000 people missing during its 50-year armed conflict, which includes left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and state actors. And Argentina saw 30,000 people disappear during its 10-year “Dirty War.”
The alarming increase in disappearances in Mexico over the past 15 years led the report’s authors to include historical circumstances corresponding to the increase.
“In Mexico, the crime of disappearance is not new, but it has accelerated and turned into a humanitarian crisis since December 2006, when (former president) Felipe Calderón Hinojosa launched his ‘war on drugs.’ From that year to May 2022, the number of missing persons increased by 4,086%.
The “war on drugs” was a militarized strategy put into motion to deal with the growing threat of drug cartels in Mexico. However, the effort resulted in an escalation of violence and deaths across the country. Its designer, the former head of Public Security during Mr Calderon’s presidency, Genaro García Luna, is currently in custody in the US for his alleged links to one of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels.
The research holds the militarization of the public safety strategy responsible for the increase in disappearances. According to Quinto Elemento Lab, the security plan fragmented armed groups, paving the way for newly empowered forces, while disrupting state and municipal infrastructure. The consequences that are “paid even today”.
The trend has not subsided after the presidency of Mr. Calderón. By the end of his term in 2012, 16,897 people had disappeared. His successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, saw 35,092 people disappear during his term that ended in 2018.
With the arrival of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, disappearances in Mexico have also increased. Since taking office in December 2018, there have been 31,271 disappearances in the country.
In addition, Mr. López Obrador has continued with the militarization that characterized the presidency of Mr. Calderón with the implementation of the National Guard, a public security force led by the military.
While Mr. López Obrador insists his presidency is different from his predecessors, assuring voters that under his administration violence and human rights abuses are decreasing, the report points out. López Obrador as the most violent in recent years.
During his presidency there were two mass disappearances; one in the northern state of Tamaulipas in March 2019, where armed groups reportedly captured 31 migrants, and in February 2021 in Zacatecas, where three municipalities reported 28 disappearances on the same day.
To date, Mexico has averaged 25 disappearances each day, more than three times the rate of daily disappearances up to the end of 2012.
The crisis seems to be located in only five states out of the country’s 32 states, where 50% of all incidents are concentrated. With the central west state of Jalisco accounting for the majority of cases, reporting 13,335 disappearances so far.
The capital of Jalisco, the city of Guadalajara, had the highest number of missing persons in 2006. However, at that time, the figure amounted to only 20 disappearances. Before 2006, the country had recorded at least 1,989 people who are still missing to this day.
Noting that eight out of ten disappearances occurred from January 2006 to May 2022. The report traces this period as the time frame where disappearances led to a humanitarian crisis.
