Faced with a systemic problem impossible to cover up, Mexico needs genuine international assistance to curb the crisis of enforced disappearances, members of the Madres Buscadoras de Chiapas collective agreed after the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances referred the issue to the General Assembly.
“Let’s hope this leads to something positive, since Mexican authorities seem blind to the crisis. We, as a collective, have been asking the UN since last year (2025) to intervene so that the State will search for our disappeared,” said Liliana Pérez Gutiérrez, mother of Marvin and Luis Nanga Pérez, who were forcibly disappeared on February 24, 2024, in Salvador Urbina, municipality of Chiapa de Corzo.
Early that morning, men carrying high-powered weapons and wearing uniforms of the Mexican Army, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), and the Ministry of Public Security forced their way into Liliana’s home and took her two sons away using violence and threats. “We lived in a neighborhood surrounded by checkpoints. If they aren’t state officials, why do they have free passage through the checkpoints?” asked Liliana Pérez.
Like many families, Liliana is outraged that Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, denies the state’s involvement. According to documentation from the Madres Buscadoras de Chiapas collective, security forces from all three levels of government are involved in the majority of disappearances. “And the governor (of Chiapas), Eduardo Ramírez, remains silent; he doesn’t name the victims, even though the crisis is now impossible to hide,” she said.
The investigation into Liliana’s sons has stalled; the leads she has suggested for finding them are not being considered, nor are the search requests based on the geolocation data from their cell phones.
The other cases of the Searching Mothers of Chiapas are in similar situations, confirmed Hilda Moreno, mother of Jesús Esteban Mazariegos Moreno, who was forcibly disappeared from a public establishment in the state capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, on December 6, 2023.
After more than two years of fighting for justice, Hilda Moreno was only granted permission for a ground search, which took place in late 2025, on the El Cedro property, located in the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, where personnel from the State Search Commission (CEB) refused to dig deeply, even though the anonymous tip reporting the site indicated that the search should be conducted at a depth of one and a half meters.
“The president and the governor (Eduardo Ramírez)—that is, the three levels of government—do not acknowledge the disappearances; they say that none of this exists, that there is peace in Mexico, and that Chiapas is calm. That is not true, and they know the reality,” emphasized Hilda Moreno, also a member of Madres Buscadoras.
For Hilda, it is urgent that the government accept responsibility and address the urgency of the situation: “If the government isn’t involved, then it’s clear it’s been overrun by organized crime—why else aren’t they doing anything to stop it? We must also consider that not all families report these cases out of fear and because of the government’s complicity, but if they did, the number of missing persons would rise. They want to block out the sun with a finger, but it’s impossible,” said Jesús Esteban’s mother.
The lawyers from the Colectiva Cereza, who are working with Madres Buscadoras de Chiapas, Corazones que Buscan, and Los 7 de la Urban, believe that technical support from the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances is essential to strengthen forensic identification teams, among other needs. “There are reasons why organizations and collectives of family members have promoted this action at the United Nations, but, it must be said, it’s a double-edged sword because the United Nations is a collection of states with many political and economic interests,” emphasized Patricia Aracil, a lawyer with Colectiva Cereza, in an interview with Avispa Mídia.
Mexico has been working with the High Commissioner, and specifically with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), for the past couple of years to provide technical collaboration and assistance in this area. For example, following recent agreements between UNFPA and the National Search Commission, biological remains found in Chiapas will now be sent to the National Genome Institute in Mexico City, whereas previously the Attorney General’s Office sent the remains and biological data to the National Guard’s forensic genetics laboratories in Jalisco.
“It’s an incredible waste of time; they’re overwhelmed and don’t inspire confidence because we believe organized crime is embedded within all state security forces, in one way or another, including the National Guard.” Therefore, although the technical aspect is of utmost importance, “we believe that the most important thing to combat is the corruption and impunity linked to the involvement of state security forces and the prosecutor’s offices,” Aracil specified.
State Complicity
In 2023, 27 direct and indirect victims of forced disappearance in Chiapas, accompanied by lawyers from the Colectiva Cereza, filed a class-action injunction with a federal judge, who issued a ruling in 2024. The state government filed an appeal for review, and in late 2025, the ruling in favor of the families of the disappeared was upheld, recognizing that the cases constitute enforced disappearance and a crime against humanity.
“It is very important in the sense that forced disappearance exists. It is important to recognize that these are cases of forced disappearance when state security forces and prosecutors are involved through direct action, collaboration, or acquiescence,” explained Patricia Aracil.
The injunction 2023/2023 was filed, among other reasons, due to the failure of the prosecutors’ offices to act with due diligence in the investigative files; in some cases, these files consisted solely of case logs. “That is why we also speak of the state’s acquiescence, because it allows impunity to persist in each of the investigative files and cases,” said Isabel Nigenda, also a lawyer for the organization.
The aforementioned injunction also ordered the establishment of the State System for the Search for Missing Persons and directed the State Legislature and the Chiapas government to issue a call for the formation of a Citizen Search Council. “But there is no will to do so, and it is unheard of,” the lawyers agreed.
In May 2025, the plenary session of the 69th Legislature of Chiapas approved the creation of a special commission; since then, there have been delays, recesses, and excuses regarding the establishment of the Citizen Council for the Search, which is to be composed of relatives of missing persons, experts, and representatives of institutional and international organizations.
“Generally, the responses (from Congress) are laughable, and we do not see any political will on the part of the governor to establish it. This Citizen Council would contribute to the creation of public policies for prevention, assistance, and punishment; it would also generate guidelines or protocols that could improve support for families in their efforts to find missing persons,” explained Nigenda.
The injunction emphasizes coordination between state and federal agencies, including law enforcement agencies, as well as the state and national commissions for victim assistance and search and rescue. It also orders the registration of indirect victims in the National Victims Registry (Renavi). However, the lawyers point out that many issues in this area remain unresolved.
“The order is to not search”
In March 2018, under the leadership of Raciel López Salazar at the Chiapas State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), the creation of the Office for the Investigation and Prosecution of Crimes of Disappearance and Disappearance Committed by Private Individuals was announced.
“Since the specialized prosecutor’s office was created, there is no justification for failing to conduct investigations as required by law. They must act from the very moment a person goes missing; they must act ex officio,” stated Patricia Aracil.
The authorities have training, standardized protocols, and tools to conduct searches in accordance with the law; despite this, the lawyers noted, in some investigation files, information is omitted or excuses are made to avoid investigating. They clarified that, in the first instance, the prosecutor’s office has the obligation to request telephone records and video recordings from the C4, C5, and C6 Command, Control, Communications, and Computing Centers to investigate immediately.
“It is very important, and it is not being done. There is resistance on the part of the prosecutor’s office to request it and on the part of the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) to provide the video recordings or the information from the metal detectors,” explained Patricia Aracil.
The lawyers reiterate that the necessary technology and investigative protocols exist, but they are not implemented immediately. “This is very serious. They are prepared, but there is no will to act, and what’s worse is that we believe there is an order not to investigate these cases.” Another example is that the Prosecutor’s Office claims it has been resolving cases and promoting the Context Analysis Unit for years, but these units were not established until a federal judge ordered it following the injunction filed by Colectiva Cereza.
“It’s incredible to see how the entire state apparatus exists, yet the mechanisms are in place to avoid doing the work that needs to be done. They have training, standardized search and investigation protocols, but they aren’t effective. So far, it’s the mothers who are carrying out the investigative and search efforts,” stated Ana Nigenda.
Colectiva Cereza has also noticed that the Chiapas Prosecutor’s Office divides the collectives of families searching for their missing loved ones and discourages victims from seeking legal assistance, “The Prosecutor’s Office does a great job of dismissing what we can do with the case files; they create mistrust among the victims and try to convince them that they don’t need lawyers,” lamented Patricia Aracil.
Given this situation, the lawyers recommend that families of missing persons not wait 72 hours to file a report with the District Attorney’s Office and, in the case of missing children and adolescents, demand that the case be immediately elevated to an investigation file so that the appropriate protocols can be followed. They can also turn to the State Search Commission; “mobilization is important, and the authorities have an obligation to act immediately,” they insisted.
Currently, both the families searching for their loved ones and the Colectiva Cereza have identified a clear pattern in the disappearances in Chiapas: over the past year, the victims have been primarily adolescents and young people between the ages of 13 and 22. The municipalities identified as hotspots where enforced disappearances are on the rise are: Berriozábal, Chiapa de Corzo, Arriaga, Ocozocuautla, La Concordia, and Frontera Comalapa, to name a few.
Recently, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, held a meeting with several groups of families of missing persons in Mexico City. The families argued that the reality of disappearances in Mexico cannot be adequately addressed in a five-minute conversation, and that the participation of indirect victims was selective and limited.
The families agreed that Volker Türk had spoken of technical support without mentioning the gravity of the situation, the true scale of the crisis, or the invocation of Article 34 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance—which entails formal UN intervention upon detecting credible evidence that enforced disappearance is being systematically practiced in a State Party— so they hope that the General Assembly will indeed produce results that advance the search for their loved ones.
Original text and photos by Jeny Pascacio published at Avispa Midia on April 28th, 2026.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.