Mexico: Addressing Missing and Disappeared Persons

Mexico: Addressing Missing and Disappeared Persons

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Updated July 25, 2022
Mexico: Addressing Missing and Disappeared Persons
Mexico faces significant human rights concerns amidst
cases of enforced disappearances are often undercounted.
record violence related to drug trafficking and organized
Victims’ families routinely face threats and intimidation
crime. As of July 2022, the Mexican government has
from authorities when trying to report disappearances.
registered more than 101,300 cases of missing or
Families are often forced to carry out searches for
disappeared persons. Some 32.2% of cases were reported
disappeared family members on their own.
since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office
in December 2018 (See Figure 1). Some cases, referred to
Figure 1. Missing and Disappeared Persons in Mexico:
as “enforced disappearances,” have involved the complicity
1964-2021
of state security forces. Congress has sought to address the
general human rights situation in Mexico, as well as the
specific issue of enforced disappearances, through foreign
assistance and conditions on that assistance, hearings, and
letters to Mexican and U.S. Administrations.
Background
The United Nations (U.N.) International Convention for the
Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
defines the term enforced disappearance to mean
the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of
deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by

persons or groups of persons acting with the
Source: National Search Commission, Government of Mexico.
authorization, support or acquiescence of the State,
followed by a refusal to acknowledge the
Human rights organizations have identified patterns of
deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate
behavior regarding enforced disappearances in Mexico. In
or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which
many cases, police or military officials first detain people
place such a person outside the protection of the
from whom they seek to obtain confessions or gather
law.
intelligence without warrants or probable cause. Some
The phenomenon of enforced disappearances rose to
detainees are tortured for purposes of obtaining information
prominence in Latin America during the military
and then “disappeared” by security forces to cover up their
dictatorships of the 1960s-1980s. During the “dirty wars” of
deaths. Others are handed over to organized crime groups,
this period, officials arrested and “disappeared” individuals
who often hold them for ransom, extort them, or use them
as a strategy to silence insurgents and opposition activists.
for forced labor. An August 2021 report by the
Mexico is distinct in its experience with enforced
nongovernmental organization OpenGlobalRights describes
disappearances. Only a small fraction of those who have
how Mexican officials often falsify evidence and use other
disappeared in Mexico went missing during this period
means to “cover up” their involvement in disappearances.
(1,500 out of an estimated 73,200 total).
Ayotzinapa, Guerrero
Enforced Disappearances in Mexico
The emblematic case of 43 missing students who
As of July 2022, Mexican authorities estimated that 84,789
disappeared in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, in September 2014—
people had disappeared since former president Felipe
which allegedly involved both local police and federal
Calderón launched a military-led response to drug
authorities—remains largely unsolved despite efforts by the
trafficking in December 2006 that contributed to an
López Obrador administration to resolve the case with
escalation in homicides and enforced disappearances.
assistance from the Inter-American Commission on Human
Despite criticism by human rights groups and the U.S.
Rights (IACHR). In March 2022, IACHR experts published
government, President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018) and
a report detailing how federal authorities under the Peña
President López Obrador maintained similar policies.
Nieto administration used torture to force witnesses to back
a false version of how the crime was carried out. The report
Under López Obrador, new cases of enforced
also described how the Mexican navy played a role in
disappearances committed by security forces have emerged,
covering up evidence. According to the State Department’s
while past cases have not been prosecuted. From January to
Country Report on Human Rights Practices covering 2021,
June 2021, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission
Mexican officials arrested more than 80 suspects related to
(CNDH) received nine complaints of enforced
the crime as of October 2021, but had yet to secure any
disappearances. Many human rights advocates maintain that
convictions.
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Mexico: Addressing Missing and Disappeared Persons
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
April 2022 follow-up report, the U.N. asserted that only 2%
Some 36 people vanished between February and May 2018
to 6% of disappearances were successfully prosecuted.
in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, including a U.S. citizen.
Witness reports collected by the U.N. Office of the High
U.S. Response
Commissioner for Human Rights indicated that federal
The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for
security forces had detained many of those individuals. In
International Development (USAID) have supported efforts
July 2020, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission
to address enforced disappearances in Mexico. Within the
released a report that attributed 27 of the disappearances to
State Department, the Bureau of International Narcotics and
the marines and recommended that criminal investigations
Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) has provided forensics
be opened against those responsible. In April 2021,
assistance that has enabled all of Mexico’s federal labs and
prosecutors arrested 30 marines for involvement in the 2018
several state labs to receive international accreditation. INL
disappearances and killings, but a judge released 12 of
is enabling Mexican police, forensic experts, prosecutors,
those suspects later that year.
judges, and others to receive training and technical
assistance, and to participate in international conferences.
Mexican Government Response
INL has brought five groups of investigators, forensic
Until recently, Mexican administrations did little to address
technicians, and prosecutors to the University of
the issue of enforced disappearances. In 2017, the Peña
Tennessee’s Forensic Anthropology Center. There, they
Nieto administration supported passage of a law on
have honed how to search, process, and analyze clandestine
enforced disappearances but did not ensure its
graves; identify remains; and present DNA evidence at trial.
implementation. The law created a National Search
With the Federal Bureau of Investigation, INL is helping
Commission (CNB), but the CNB did not receive sufficient
the prosecutor general build a national genetics database.
funds to carry out its mission.
USAID has helped draft Mexico’s 2017 law on enforced
The López Obrador administration has taken steps toward
disappearances, supported the CNB and the creation of a
addressing enforced disappearances and implementing the
national search protocol, and strengthened several state
2017 law, but significant gaps remain. The administration
search commissions. USAID continues to support the CNB,
has met regularly with families of the missing, launched an
the Extraordinary Mechanism and efforts to identify
online portal for reporting missing persons, supported
backlogged remains in five priority states, state search
community-led searches, and ensured that all states create
commissions, and bolster victims’ groups.
state-level search commissions. The CNB has received
small annual budget increases since 2020. From December
Congressional Action
2018 through July 2021, the CNB registered more than
Congress has expressed ongoing concerns about human
1,749 clandestine graves and identified 1,153 of the 3,025
rights conditions in Mexico through monitoring compliance
bodies exhumed from those graves. Families have
with vetting requirements for units receiving U.S. training
complained, however, that the CNB has had problems
and equipment, support for human rights and rule of law
mobilizing to search for missing persons who may be alive.
programming, hearings, and letters to successive U.S. and
Mexican administrations.
Amidst what the Interior Ministry has deemed a “forensics
crisis,” the government has sought international assistance.
U.S. assistance to Mexico under the Mérida Initiative
Mexico created an “Extraordinary Mechanism for Forensic
(FY2008-FY2021) supported the Mexican government’s
Identification,” which recently began operations, to resolve
efforts to reform its judicial system and improve human
a backlog of some 52,000 unidentified bodies. Mexico has
rights conditions. Similar support continues under the new
received some support from U.S., Argentine, Austrian, and
Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and
Guatemalan forensics experts, among others.
Safe Communities, including programs to address enforced
disappearances and forensics support. The explanatory
Despite these efforts, obstacles have continued to impede
statement accompanying the FY2022 Consolidated
Mexico’s efforts to address enforced disappearances,
Appropriations Act (P.L. 117-103) includes human rights
according to U.N. experts and human rights organizations.
reporting requirements (including on efforts to address
These include inadequate funds and staffing on
enforced disappearances); the reporting directives are not
commissions and in forensics labs; mishandling of bodies
tied to any conditions on assistance. In June 2022, the
and case information; limited information sharing and trust
Lantos Commission held a hearing on human rights in
among families, commissions, and prosecutors; low
Mexico, including the issue of enforced disappearances.
political will in some states; and inadequate access to DNA
Witnesses suggested continued technical assistance and
analysis. In addition, a planned National Forensic Data
capacity building, especially at the state level, for actors
Bank had not yet been established.
involved in resolving cases of disappearances, as well as
support for victim’s families.
In November 2021, the U.N. Committee on Enforced
Disappearances visited Mexico and acknowledged recent
Clare Ribando Seelke, Specialist in Latin American
efforts by the Mexican government to address enforced
Affairs
disappearances. The Committee nevertheless criticized the
“structural impunity” that continues for perpetrator
Rachel L. Martin, Research Assistant
s of
disappearances, including corrupt public officials. In an
IF11669
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Mexico: Addressing Missing and Disappeared Persons

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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11669 · VERSION 3 · UPDATED