Mexican government officials say over 60,000 citizens have disappeared


According to Mexican government officials, approximately 61,637 people have been reported as disappeared and have not been found in Mexico since the 1960s. Although the cases involving disappeared individuals go back for decades, government records indicate that over 97% of the people were reported as missing since 2006. In that year, Mexico’s government initiated a strategy to reduce drug trafficking and criminal enterprises. The current situation in Mexico is one the worst crises of “the disappeared” in Latin American history. Approximately 40,000 people went missing during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war. An estimated 30,000 people disappeared from 1976 to 1983 during Argentina’s “dirty war.”

In 2017, Mexican officials recorded the more than 7,000 cases. In 2019, between 5,000 to 9,000 people disappeared and were not found, according to Mexico’s National Search Commission.

According to officials, there are various reasons for the forced disappearances. In certain cases, narcotics traffickers want to hide evidence of crimes or avoid prosecution. Another factor can be from people who want to instill fear in individuals or in a community. Most of the unsolved disappeared cases are perpetuated by organized crime groups; however, there have been cases where victims have been taken by military officials, corrupt police or corrupt politicians.

One of Mexico’s most infamous disappearance cases involved 43 students near the city of Iguala. In 2014, the group of students were attacked and kidnapped by police officers working for a local drug cartel in southern Mexico. The students were never seen again after local witnesses saw them being escorted away by local police trucks.

Sources:

“A New Toll in Mexico’s Drug War: More Than 61,000 Vanished” by Paulina Villegas, January 6, 2020, The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/world/americas/mexico-drug-war-death-toll.html

“More than 60,000 Mexicans have disappeared amid drug war, officials say” by Mary Beth Sheridan, January 6, 2020, The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/more-than-60000-mexicans-have-been-disappeared-amid-drug-war-officials-say/2020/01/06/07a4ea56-24f8-11ea-9cc9-e19cfbc87e51_story.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Recovery Month supports addiction treatment programs and services

F or twenty-three years Americans have celebrated the month of September as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.   The purpose of Recovery month is to educate Americans about mental health services and addiction treatment programs that can help people struggling with substance abuse.   Recovery month also raises awareness about specific challenges that people in recovery face.   Although drug and alcohol addictions are complex problems with the correct treatment and support people who struggle with these addictions can recover. In a Presidential Proclamation On August 31, 2012, President Barack Obama declared September 2012 as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.   In his proclamation Obama said: “Over the past 3 years, we have worked to strengthen substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, and to support Americans in recovery… Drug and alcohol abuse continue to take a tragic toll on millions of lives across our country. ...
Read more

The Life and Art of Allan Rohan Crite

Image
The Boston Public Library was one of three locations in the city of Boston to display the art work of longtime Bostonian and artist Allan Rohan Crite. Beginning in the fall of 2007 until February 3, 2008, the BPL, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists exhibited collected works of art from Crite’s storied career in The Life and Art of Allan Rohan Crite: 1910-2007 . Funded in part by the Boston Public Library Foundation, the exhibit offered onlookers a view into Crite’s lengthy artistic career. When I visited the exhibit on January 19, 2008, over fifty collages, drawings, paintings, and sketches adorned the Wiggins Gallery in the McKim Building of The Boston Public Library. Crite was born on March 20, 1910, in Plainfield, New Jersey. In that same year, his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Crite would later make Boston his home as an adult. Over the course of his distinguished career he promoted visual art as a lecturer, p...
Read more

Political legislation brings attention to US Dental Care Crisis

A ccording to a report created by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) there is a national crisis in American dental care.   On June 7, 2012 Cummings and Sanders – the chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, introduced legislation to address the inefficiencies in the American dental care system.   Approximately 130 million Americans do not have dental insurance.   ¼ of American adults 65 and older have lost all of their teeth.   More than 75% of American adults over 30 have gum disease.   Additionally, about 17 million low-income children do not go to the dentist every year. On June 26, 2012, PBS aired a documentary about the U.S. dental care system on the investigative news program FRONTLINE .   The 50 minute documentary, Dollars and Dentists , analyzes current economic trends and patient access in the dental care industry.   The documentary is a joint investigative pie...
Read more