MEXICO CITY (AP) – On Wednesday, María de Jesús Soria Aguayo and more than a dozen volunteers trailed by search dogs and police, keeping their eyes on the ground as they waded through fields of weeds and dry dirt. I walked carefully inside.
On the outskirts of Mexico City, the group began searching for human remains and other evidence after volunteer searchers suggested the site could be the site of a secret crematorium.
The search for bodies began late Tuesday on social media, Ceci Flores, the leader of a group searching for the bodies of missing Mexicans, said on social media that her team was searching for bones around a charred pit on the southern outskirts of Mexico City. , which took place after announcing the discovery of a secret burial hole and ID card. .
Over 110,000 people Mexican authorities say two people have gone missing amid continued cartel violence. In the face of severe impunity, “madres bascadoras,” or “mother seekers” like Soria Aguayo, set out to search for the bodies of their missing loved ones in regions of Mexico torn apart by violence. formed its own independent group.
Soria Aguayo, 54, whose son's body was found in Veracruz in 2022, said: “I started the search alone. I tracked him with my own hands and searched alone in the countryside. “Our promise is to continue the search.” Until she can't do it anymore…because there are so many (bodies) that haven't been found yet. ”
Flores' announcement marks the first time in recent memory that someone has claimed to have found such a mortuary in Mexico's capital. The upsurge in violence seen across large swathes of the country in recent years has not yet reached the capital, at least not in its most visceral form.
Mexico City's Chief Prosecutor Ulises Lara said Tuesday morning that police visited the addresses listed on the recovered ID cards and confirmed that “the two owners of those cards are alive and well. I have confirmed it.”
One of them, a woman, had her credit card and cell phone stolen, Lara said, adding that about a year ago, a thief took her cell phone and ID card while she was stuck in traffic. That's what it means.
It was ruled out that the woman's body was dumped there, but it was suggested that criminals may have used the area to dispose of evidence.
Lara said experts were conducting an investigation to determine the nature of the remains found and whether they were human. Prosecutors said they were also examining security camera footage and looking for potential witnesses.
After hours of exploring the countryside on the outskirts of Mexico's capital, the volunteers came up with nothing but frustration.
Although some in the group have questioned whether any remains will ever be found, Flores said they will continue searching and have already spent two days searching the area before finding what they believe to be human remains. he added.
“If you don't search, you're not going to find anything,” Flores said, adding that she was happy to hear that prosecutors had located people whose belongings were found in the area.
If the discovery of the secret crematorium is confirmed, it would be a political embarrassment for the ruling party that has ruled Mexico City for years and claims the capital has been spared much of the drug cartel violence that afflicts other parts of the country. It will be.
This is largely due to the city's population density, notoriously chaotic traffic, extensive surveillance camera network, and large police force, which likely makes it difficult for criminals to operate as they would in rural areas. .
But while the city is home to 9 million people and the metropolitan area is home to about 20 million, much of the south is still a mix of farms, forests, and mountains. It is not unheard of for criminals to abandon the bodies of kidnap victims in these areas.
Volunteer searchers like Flores often rely on information from ex-offenders to conduct their own investigations, sometimes relying on information from ex-offenders, because the government doesn't help them.The searchers were furious over an incident. Government campaign to find out For missing people, check their last known address to see if they returned home without notifying authorities.
Activists say it's just trying to reduce politically embarrassing numbers About the missing person.
The searchers, mostly mothers of the disappeared, usually do not seek to convict anyone of kidnapping their relatives. They say they just want to find their bodies.
The Mexican government spends little on searching for missing people. Volunteers must take the place of a non-existent official search team to search the secret graves where the cartel is hiding its victims. The government has not adequately developed or funded genetic databases to help identify the remains found.
If volunteers find something, all authorities do is send in police and forensic teams to retrieve the body, but in most cases the body is never identified.
Since 2021, at least seven activists searching for some of Mexico's missing persons have been killed.
