Mexico is one of the countries with one of the highest crime rates in the world and the numbers have only increased since leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) took office. Despite all his announcements and plans announced in his famous several-hour-long morning press conferences, Mexico continues to wake up to the news of dead bodies in the streets, mutilated corpses hanging from bridges, kidnappings and missing people on a daily basis. According to the National Registry of Disappeared and Missing Persons (RNPDNO), part of the Ministry of the Interior, there are officially more than 110,000 missing persons in the country. An average of 26 people went missing each day in 2022.
Last Thursday, authorities in the state of Jalisco, in western Mexico, found 45 bags that contained human remains. The remains could include some of the eight young people who went missing near the state capital, Guadalajara, according to preliminary analysis. "The investigation in that area is ongoing and the work will continue until we exhaust the collection of evidence, even in complex conditions due to the depth and the slope," said the prosecutor's office Thursday night. Jalisco is the state with the most missing persons, approximately 15,000, according to federal data. In addition, there are thousands of remains in morgues, cemeteries and clandestine graves that are still unidentified.
Chilling facts
The long weekend from March 17 to 19 was particularly tragic. 200 murders were reported throughout the country, most of them in the states of Mexico, Guanajuato and Morelos. The non-profit organization Causa en Común's report states that in 2022, there were at least 1,793 cases of torture; 808 cases of mutilation, dismemberment and destruction of corpses; 801 women who were murdered with extreme cruelty and at least 500 mass murders.
