Families Searching for Loved Ones Turn Up Hidden Graves in State of Veracruz Yahoo News
go to original August 10, 2016

Over the years, thousands of people have disappeared in Mexico because of drug-related violence. Families frustrated with a lack of answers are taking matters into their own hands. As Al Jazeera's Natasha Ghoneim reports from Veracruz, some are digging up mass graves to try and find their loved ones. (Al Jazeera)

Mothers searching for missing loved ones said they have found seven clandestine gravesites with remains of an undetermined number of people in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, one of the most afflicted by drug gang violence.

Marcela Zurita Rosas, a participant in the search, said Tuesday the graves were found this week in a plot of land in the city of Veracruz, in an area near a major seaport.

"On Monday, we found three graves with bones and on Tuesday four more were found with remains of people who were murdered," she said.

Rosas, who has received training in forensic anthropology and search techniques, is a member of a group called El Solecito. It was formed by mothers who decided to organize their own searches for missing loved ones after growing tired of waiting for the authorities to act.

Rosas is looking for her son, Dorian Javier Rivera Zurita, who disappeared in Cordoba, Veracruz in October 2012.

The latest finds were made on the same plot of land where five decapitated bodies were found in 2015.

Mexico's federal police are guarding the property while forensic specialists remove the remains and transfer them to Mexico City for DNA analysis, said Rosas, expressing hope that "many people find their loved ones and can bury them."

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