Key facts
- Families of missing people in Guadalajara, Mexico, are using World Cup-themed stickers to raise awareness.
Families searching for missing relatives in Mexico have created Panini-style soccer stickers featuring their loved ones to raise awareness during the World Cup. The campaign aims to make the country's 135,000 missing people visible to tens of thousands of visitors.
This campaign underscores the deep-seated frustration of families in Mexico who are struggling to find their missing loved ones amidst widespread violence and official neglect. By leveraging the global attention of the World Cup, they aim to force a reckoning with the country's severe human rights crisis.
As Guadalajara prepares to host matches for the 2026 World Cup, families of Mexico's disappeared have launched a poignant campaign to draw attention to the country's ongoing crisis of missing persons. They have transformed the familiar imagery of collectible soccer stickers into a powerful tool, plastering streets with images of their loved ones wearing the national team's jersey, each labeled 'DESAPARECIDO' (Missing).
The initiative, spearheaded by the Luz de Esperanza search collective in Jalisco, the state with the highest number of disappearances, aims to make the estimated 135,000 missing individuals visible to the tens of thousands of international visitors expected for the tournament. María de Jesús Solís, whose son Jaime Adrián disappeared nearly six years ago, explained that the stickers are a way to express their profound sense of loss and absence.
This campaign highlights the stark contrast between the millions spent on World Cup preparations and the often self-funded efforts of families searching for their missing relatives. Solís noted that while the government presents a 'beautiful face' to the world, the city is "full of posters of our children."
Members of Luz de Esperanza, including Solís and Guadalupe Rivera, whose son Christian Emmanuel disappeared three years ago, actively participate in searches, combing abandoned properties and testing the ground for clandestine graves. Rivera expressed a desire to find her son alive, but hopes the soccer-themed campaign will prompt greater awareness and action.
The campaign has elicited mixed reactions, with some residents embracing it and others suggesting it detracts from the celebratory atmosphere of the World Cup. However, for the families, whose pleas to authorities have often gone unheeded, finding new ways to make their loved ones visible to the world remains their primary objective.