A Growing Grassroots Movement in Mexico Is Resisting the US-Backed Drug War Dawn Paley - The Nation
go to original September 30, 2016

The small copper horseshoe Mario Vergara Hernández keeps in the pocket of his jeans isn’t there for good luck. It has another purpose altogether. “Since I started looking for graves, I carry this horseshoe in my pocket, because if they find me in a common grave, the metal won’t disintegrate,” said Vergara Hernández, palming the charm as we sat beside a hole he was helping to dig. “I told my mother that if I disappear, she should tell the government to look for the metal. I just hope they bury me with my pants on.”

...Every Sunday, Vergara Hernández leads a group organized under the name Los Otros Desaparecidos de Iguala (The Other Disappeared of Iguala) into the hills surrounding the city. They’re akin to a self-taught search team, comprising family members of people who have been disappeared from the region. The group works off hand-drawn maps, messages on WhatsApp and Facebook, and tips from folks who, somehow or another, have seen bodies being buried late into the night. When we arrive at the site the searchers fan out, expertly scanning the ground, looking for upturned soil or disturbed plants as they hunt for mass graves, with the hope of identifying a loved one.

Los Otros Desaparecidos de Iguala came together after the infamous disappearance of 43 students by local police in concert with local paramilitaries two years ago, on September 26, 2014. But it wasn’t until the discovery of 38 bodies in the weeks following the disappearances that the media storm began. As grave after grave was turned up outside of Iguala, Argentine forensic experts identified the remains of Alexander Mora Venancio, one of the 43 students. The other 42 young men are still disappeared.

In 2014, Mexico ranked as the country with the third-most civilians killed in internal conflict, after Syria and Iraq.

...When it comes to disappearances, official numbers are staggering - but they represent a fraction of the total. According to the Mexican government, as cited by Amnesty International, 27,638 people have been registered as disappeared or missing since 2006. Nearly half of the disappearances have taken place since December 2012, during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.

Informally, it is known that the number of disappeared is much higher. The official number only counts Mexicans who have been disappeared. Advocates for Central American migrants have said tens of thousands have been disappeared in transit through Mexico, but there is no centralized record keeping. In Iguala, Vergara Hernández said his group includes over 500 families with at least one disappearance. Of those, he says, only 215 cases have been reported to police.

Read the rest at The Nation

Related: The Social Impacts of Drug Trafficking and Heroin in America (Global Research)

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