New gruesome discovery in Mexico. A search team for missing persons has found at least twenty-two bodies in several clandestine graves in Reynosa, in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, authorities announced on Monday, July 17. “They found several graves, 12 in total, with 22 bodies”state security spokesman Jorge Cuéllar said. He added that the local attorney’s office was in charge of the investigation and that the final body count would be released later. Most of the bones found stayed underground between ten and fourteen months, he said.
The discovery was made and denounced by the Love for the Disappeared collective of Tamaulipas, a border region of the United States affected by violence related to organized crime. Driven by desperation and the lack of investigation results, the families of the disappeared sometimes set out in search of their loved ones, most often in inhospitable areas.
Since 1962, 110,000 have disappeared
The state of Tamaulipas is the scene of permanent clashes between criminal organizations fighting for drug routes. In March, four Americans believed to be drug traffickers were kidnapped in Matamoros. With about 13,000 search alerts, this state is second in number of missing persons in the country, behind Jalisco, which has 14,987.
The country has counted 110,000 missing since 1962, a chronic problem described as “human tragedy” by the UN. Since the military war on drugs began in December 2006, some 350,000 homicides have been recorded in Mexico, most attributed to criminal groups.
