MEXICO CITY: Families of missing Mexicans simulated one of the many clandestine burial sites dotting the country, dumping dirt and rock on part of the capitals massive plaza Monday then digging it away to reveal their demands for the government to act.
Holding photos of their missing loved ones and shovels, members of three search collectives from the central state of Guanajuato staged a morbid protest in front of the National Palace.
During President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obradors daily news conference, the groups chanted that if he doesnt go to the graves, the graves come to him as they pounded the ground with their shovels.
Guanajuato is one of Mexicos most violent states. Two of its municipalities Salvatierra and Acambaro rank among Mexicos top 10 for recovered bodies during Lpez Obradors administration.
When the authorities told us there werent secret graves in the state, we with our hands full of dirt and love showed them there were, the groups said in a statement.
Such search collectives, typically made up by relatives of the missing, have sprung up across Mexico and become one of the most visible symbols of successive administrations failure to ensure security for their citizens. The grim work of looking for clandestine graves where drug cartels dispose of their victims was largely left to desperate parents, siblings and grandparents.
On Monday, those participating were mostly women who have led the majority of the efforts.
Mexico has more than 95,000 disappeared, according to government data. More than 93,000 of those disappearances occurred since 2006, when the government began is war against organized crime. The government has struggled to identify even the bodies that have been found. Some 52,000 await identification.
When the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances recently visited Mexico they concluded the problem was an almost absolute, structural impunity when it came to the disappearances. The committee called Mexicos security efforts not only insufficient but also inadequate.
The collectives protesting agreed. They said the current security strategy has had as a consequence an increase in the violence.
They requested a meeting with Lpez Obrador, recognition that the governments security strategy has failed and for the government to work with civil society to find answers.
Lpez Obradors administration has raised the profile of the issue and makes information about disappearances and search efforts available periodically. It has also said that it is willing to address the U.N. groups recommendations.
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