Mexico shares grim figures on dissapeared citizens

By Jorge Antonio Rocha

MEXICO (AA) - Mexico said Thursday that the number of people who have disappeared in the country since the government launched its war on drugs in 2006 stands at 85,006.

The information was disclosed by Assistant Secretary for Human Rights Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez in a press conference at the National Palace.

The first official report of a missing person in Mexico dates back to 1964. From that year until April 7, 2021, a total of 217,193 people have been reported missing.

Since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in December 2018, 44,174 people have been reported missing, around 56% of which have been located.

According to Encinas Rodriguez, only 10 of Mexico’s 32 states hold 76% of the cases, with major urban centers such as Nuevo León, Jalisco and the nation’s capital among those with the most.

Almost a third of those missing consist of women, accounting for nearly 25% of what has been reported. Encinas Rodriguez shared that a large majority of them consisted of minors, representing over 55% of the total.

The average age of the missing females ranges from 10 to 19 years old, with 62% of these cases limited to seven states.

"This is something that should concern us. We are doing specific work not only in terms of finding them alive but also attacking the phenomenon of human trafficking," he said, referring to the figures.

The peak in reports of missing persons occurred in 2019, with 9,211 registered cases. According to what was presented by the assistant secretary, a decrease occurred to 8,322 cases in 2020.

The number of reported disappearances declined by 22.5% in the April 2020 to March 2021 period compared with the April 2019 to March 2020 period.

In the first quarter of 2021, there were a record 1,438 reports of missing people.