A group dedicated to the search for missing persons discovered several clandestine graves with at least 22 bodies in the Mexican border city of Reynosa, located in the northeast of the country and bordering the United States, authorities reported today.
The organization Amor por los Desaparecidos, based in the state of Tamaulipas, was the one who reported the discovery last Friday. Tamaulipas has been affected by violence related to organized crime. State security spokesman Jorge Cuéllar confirmed that so far, 12 graves with 22 bodies have been found. The local prosecutor’s office is carrying out investigations, and a final report on the total number of bodies found is expected.
Most of the remains found had been buried in the area for between 10 and 14 months. Motivated by desperation and the lack of results in official investigations, the relatives of the missing persons have undertaken their own search, often in remote parts of the country, armed with shovels and picks.
Tamaulipas, a region bordering the United States, has been the scene of constant clashes between organized crime groups fighting for control of highly lucrative drug trafficking routes. In March, four US citizens were kidnapped in the city of Matamoros by suspected drug traffickers.
With approximately 13,000 registered cases, Tamaulipas is the second state in Mexico with the highest number of disappeared persons after Jalisco, which has 14,987 cases. In total, Mexico has had more than 110,000 cases of missing persons from 1962 to date, a “human tragedy” according to the United Nations. The country has experienced more than 350,000 murders, mostly attributed to criminal organizations, since the start of a controversial military strategy against drug trafficking in December 2006.