Mexico's World Cup Priorities Overshadow Missing Persons Crisis
As Mexico focuses resources on securing the World Cup, grassroots search groups face daunting challenges to find thousands of missing people amid the country's ongoing violence.
In the lead-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Mexican government has mobilized vast resources to ensure the safety and security of the international soccer tournament. However, this heightened focus on the World Cup has come at the expense of the country's ongoing crisis of missing persons, where thousands of individuals remain unaccounted for amidst the backdrop of endemic violence.
Grassroots Efforts to Fill the Void
Ana Hatsumi Muñoz, a member of the Guerreros Buscadores (Warrior Searchers) search collective, stands before an altar dedicated to four of her own family members who have disappeared or been murdered in recent years. Muñoz's personal tragedy is a microcosm of the broader crisis facing Mexico, where, according to government data, over 100,000 people have gone missing since the country's drug war began in 2006.
Source: The New York Times
