Key facts
- Mexico is hosting the World Cup, coinciding with the ongoing crisis of over 135,000 missing people.
- Families of the missing often conduct their own investigations due to perceived bureaucratic inefficiency and lack of support.
- Search groups are actively uncovering bodies and evidence in dangerous areas controlled by cartels.
- A UN committee has called for international support for Mexican investigations into disappearances.
- President Claudia Sheinbaum has rejected the UN's intervention, stating the country's systems are not overwhelmed.
As Mexico hosts the World Cup for the first time in 40 years, the global event is highlighting the ongoing pain and struggle of families searching for over 135,000 missing loved ones. Norma Laguna, whose 19-year-old daughter Idaly Juache disappeared in 2010, keeps her daughter's soccer jersey as a reminder of the life she should have had, stating that time has not moved on for her family.
Juache's remains were identified years later from a piece of skull found alongside the remains of 26 other women and girls. Despite a court sentencing five men to prison for luring and murdering Juache and others, Laguna found little closure. The number of missing people in Mexico has surged dramatically since 2006, following the government's launch of a war against drug cartels. Relatives of the missing often take on investigations themselves, frequently in dangerous areas where cartels operate, complaining of inefficient bureaucracy and a lack of financial support.
Across the country, grassroots collectives of families are searching for lost loved ones. In Jerez, Zacatecas, searchers led by Ely Araiza uncovered four bodies at an old ranch, suspected to have been used for holding kidnap victims. The state attorney general's office has pledged to coordinate with families and utilize resources for identification. The scale of the crisis prompted a UN committee to invoke a mechanism for international support, a move strongly rejected by President Claudia Sheinbaum, who stated Mexico's systems are not overwhelmed.
Laguna's own family has been further impacted, with her grandson Edgar Ruiz going missing two years ago at age 17, having last been seen near the same soccer pitch where his aunt once played. The families' primary desire remains to know what happened to their loved ones.