During the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), Mexico has faced an unprecedented crisis of forced disappearances.
More than 50,000 people have disappeared in this period, representing an alarming 44.8% of the total 115,591 cases recorded since 1964.
In practical terms, this means that one person disappears every hour in the country.
A six-year term marked by the increase in disappearances
Disappearances have increased drastically compared to previous administrations.
During the term of Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018), 52,948 disappearances were recorded. In AMLO's six-year term, the figure already exceeds 50,000 and continues to rise.
Human rights organizations and family collectives have denounced the government's indifference. They point out its lack of effective action and its attempt to downplay the crisis.
AMLO's government and its failed census of the disappeared
In June 2023, President López Obrador announced a census of the disappeared in response to social pressure. This initiative was independent of the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons (RNPDNO) and was left in the hands of the Servants of the Nation of the Ministry of Welfare.
By March 2024, the Secretary of the Interior, Luisa María Alcalde, reported that 16,681 people had been located and 1,951 duplicate records had been detected.
However, experts and collectives have questioned these data. They claim that the government only seeks to gloss over the crisis without offering real solutions.
Impunity and forensic crisis
A report by the organization Causa en Común titled "Names without bodies and bodies without names" reveals an alarming fact: 99% of the cases remain unpunished.
Additionally, more than 72,100 unidentified bodies remain in morgues and mass graves throughout the country. This situation reflects the collapse of the forensic system and the lack of coordination between institutions.
States with the most disappearances
Six states account for 49% of the disappearance cases during AMLO's six-year term:
- Jalisco: 6,724 cases
- State of Mexico (Edomex): 5,425 cases
- Michoacán: 3,758 cases
- Mexico City (CDMX): 3,655 cases
- Tamaulipas: 3,351 cases
- Nuevo León: 3,256 cases
Emblematic cases that expose the system's collapse
One of the most representative cases of this crisis is that of journalist Jesús Alberto Camacho Rodríguez, who disappeared in 2019.
His body was found three years later in a morgue in Culiacán, Sinaloa, 450 kilometers (280 miles) from where he disappeared in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora.
His identification was only possible thanks to the comparison of fingerprints with records from the National Electoral Institute (INE), using devices donated by the UN.
This case exposes the serious deficiencies in identification processes. It also reveals the lack of coordination between the institutions responsible for addressing the crisis of the disappeared.
Far from decreasing, the crisis of disappearances in Mexico has reached alarming levels under AMLO's government.
The insufficient efforts, the lack of resources, and the absence of a comprehensive strategy have left thousands of families in uncertainty.
Meanwhile, the current government seeks to gloss over the figures, the number of disappeared continues to grow, evidencing the failure of its security strategy.
If urgent measures are not taken, impunity will continue to reign and the crisis of disappearances will become one of the worst humanitarian tragedies in Mexico's recent history.
