Thousands Rally in Mexico to Demand Action for 130,000 Missing Persons

Tue Sep 30 2025 05:20:03 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Protests across Mexico, led by families and activists, call on the government to address the crisis of enforced disappearances, highlighting the urgent need for justice.

In a powerful display of unity, thousands protested in cities across Mexico, including Mexico City and Guadalajara, to draw attention to the over 130,000 missing persons, many of whom have vanished since the onset of the drug war in 2007. Families of the disappeared demand accountability and action from the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, showcasing the widespread impact of this tragedy across the country.

Thousands of people have held protests across Mexico to highlight the country's many enforced disappearances and demand more action by officials to tackle them.

Relatives and friends of missing people, as well as human rights activists, marched through the streets of Mexico City, Guadalajara, Córdoba, and other cities calling for justice and urged the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum to help find their missing loved ones.

More than 130,000 people have been reported as missing in Mexico. Almost all the disappearances have occurred since 2007, when then-President Felipe Calderón launched his 'war on drugs'.

In many cases, those disappeared have been forcibly recruited into drug cartels – or murdered for resisting.

While drug cartels and organized crime groups are the main perpetrators, security forces are also blamed for deaths and disappearances.

The widespread nature of the protests illustrates the extent to which forced disappearances affect communities and families across Mexico. Activists and family members of the disappeared turned out in their thousands carrying placards with their relatives' faces on them, demanding greater action from the authorities.

In Mexico City, the march brought traffic in the capital to a standstill as it moved down the main thoroughfare. Many affected families have formed search teams, known as 'buscadores', who scour the countryside for clues to the whereabouts of mass graves.

These search groups carry out their efforts at great personal risk, with incidents of buscadores disappearing after conducting searches.

The United Nations has described the situation as a 'human tragedy of enormous proportions', highlighting that the rate of disappearances in Mexico surpasses that of some of Latin America's most severe crises.