Collective Searching for Missing Relatives in Guerrero Marks Its Second Anniversary The Associated Press
go to original November 23, 2016

In the two years since dozens of families in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero banded together to search for relatives who have disappeared, Maria Carmen Figueroa Acevedo has missed only one weekly gathering.

Without hesitation she says she believes her son Ricardo is alive. She dreams regularly of his homecoming.

Spending each Tuesday with other families like hers is a weekly dose of hope and why the group has made it to its second anniversary this month. "It gives me the strength to continue," Figueroa said.

The Other Disappeared collective stopped short of calling the milestone a celebration, given the tragedies behind the group's formation. But some 150 relatives turned out Tuesday at a site recently occupied for their headquarters, a large property they cleared themselves with a concrete structure spruced up with paint to hold their meetings.

They grapple with a problem that is widespread in Mexico. Nearly 28,000 people were reported missing across the country from 2007 through the end of July, according to government statistics. The real total is believed to be significantly higher due to the fact that many families do not report their loved ones' disappearances out of fear, because many of the disappearances are believed tied to drug violence and reprisals by cartels.

The Iguala group gained notice in 2015 when The Associated Press interviewed relatives of more than 150 of the disappeared in and around Iguala. The vast majority of their missing were young men.

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