Relatives of some of Mexico’s over 100,000 missing people marched through downtown Mexico City Tuesday to demand authorities find their sons, daughters, parents and siblings.
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_34887 A person places a photo of a missing loved one on an improvised altar at La Palma roundabout on The International Day of the Disappeared during an march along the Paseo de la Reforma street by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The roundabout, where a palm tree used to stand but was removed, has been adopted by the families of missing people and coined "The roundabout of the disappeared." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_81955 A protester holds a portrait with the Spanish phrase "Looking for" during a march by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives, on The International Day of the Disappeared in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_54012 People wearing photos of missing people attend a march by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives, on The International Day of the Disappeared in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_63876 People carry images of missing people during a march by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives, on The International Day of the Disappeared in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_85007 The photo of a missing person is part of an improvised altar at La Palma roundabout on The International Day of the Disappeared during an march along the Paseo de la Reforma street by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The roundabout, where a palm tree used to stand but was removed, has been adopted by the families of missing people and coined "The roundabout of the disappeared." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_85145 The photo of a missing person is part of an improvised altar at La Palma roundabout on The International Day of the Disappeared during an march along the Paseo de la Reforma street by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The roundabout, where a palm tree used to stand but was removed, has been adopted by the families of missing people and coined "The roundabout of the disappeared." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_02546 A person places photos of a missing loved one at La Palma roundabout on The International Day of the Disappeared during an march along the Paseo de la Reforma street by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The roundabout, where a palm tree used to stand but was removed, has been adopted by the families of missing people and coined "The roundabout of the disappeared." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_29756 A person places a photo of a missing loved one at La Palma roundabout on The International Day of the Disappeared during an march along the Paseo de la Reforma street by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The roundabout, where a palm tree used to stand but was removed, has been adopted by the families of missing people and coined "The roundabout of the disappeared." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_25415 A person place rose petals by a photograph of a missing loved one at La Palma roundabout on The International Day of the Disappeared during an march along the Paseo de la Reforma street by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The roundabout, where a palm tree used to stand but was removed, has been adopted by the families of missing people and coined "The roundabout of the disappeared." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_81368 A person places rose petals on photographs of missing relatives at La Palma roundabout on The International Day of the Disappeared during an march along the Paseo de la Reforma street by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. The roundabout, where a palm tree used to stand but was removed, has been adopted by the families of missing people and coined "The roundabout of the disappeared." (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Mexico_Day_of_the_Disappeared_34024 People carry images of missing people during a march by families who want the government help locate their missing relatives, on The International Day of the Disappeared in Mexico City, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Relatives of some of Mexico’s over 100,000 missing people marched through downtown Mexico City Tuesday to demand authorities find their sons, daughters, parents and siblings.
The protesters carried photos of the disappeared hanging from their necks, and chanted “Where are they? Our Children, Where are they?”
Many claimed that, rather than investigating the abductions, authorities are quick to assume that disappeared people might have been involved in illicit activities.
”Frequently, there are no investigations, re-victimizations. We continually face negligence and inaction,” said Miriam Jaqueline Palmeros, whose daughter Jael Monserrat Uribe disappeared two years ago and has never been seen since.
To mark the International Day of the Disappeared, family members mounted a panorama of photos of the missing, and performed prayers, rituals and songs for them. Most of the disappearances began after the start of Mexico’s drug war in 2006.
While abductions and disappearances sometimes involve street-level drug dealers picked up by rival gangs, the disappeared also include kidnap victims, passing motorists caught at drug cartel checkpoints and witnesses to crimes or passersby.
Guillermo Fernández Maldonado, the Mexico representative for the U.N. Office on Human Rights, noted “these are really enormous numbers.”
“These are not like some situations that are in the past,” Fernández Maldonado said. “These are serious situations that continue to happen every day.”
The protesters demanded that authorities start searching earlier, within the first few hours after a disappearance, rather than waiting — as they often do — to see if a missing person shows up on their own.
