More personnel and more technology, coordination with prosecutors' offices and local commissions — these are some of the promises made by Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum to make the search and identification processes for missing persons more efficient.
These measures were announced after a macabre discovery: Skeletal remains and clothing of hundreds of people were found on a ranch in the town of Teuchitlan in the western state of Jalisco, generating a wave of indignation across the country.
Guillermina's son Jorge Alberto walked out the door on March 24, 2017. He never came back.
He’s one of over 3,800 people missing in Zacatecas in central Mexico, where vast distances and organized crime make it nearly impossible for families to search for their loved ones. Authorities provide police escorts, but the mothers do the searching themselves, often at great personal risk.
Lack of enforcement to improve coordination
Meanwhile, disappearances keep rising.
Corruption, lack of resources, and poor coordination hinder efforts by groups like the National Search Commission.
The discovery of skeletal remains in Jalisco triggered nationwideprotests and outrage.
President Sheinbaum has promised to improve coordination between prosecutors, but mothers say these measures already exist — they just aren't being enforced. In the end, it's the families who risk their lives to search for answers.