Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – In the wake of a damning United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) report, President Claudia Sheinbaum has categorically denied the existence of forced disappearances carried out by state actors in Mexico. During a press conference on Tuesday, she stated firmly: “In Mexico, there are no forced disappearances by the State,” asserting that disappearances in the country are caused exclusively by organized crime.
The president’s remarks came in response to weeks of escalating concern about the crisis of disappearances in Mexico, heightened by the discovery of the Teuchitlán recruitment and extermination center in the state of Jalisco. The CED’s latest intervention, which concluded that enforced disappearances in Mexico are “systematic and widespread,” has also intensified scrutiny. The committee’s findings have led it to invoke, for the first time in its history, the mechanism enshrined in Article 24 of its regulations—requesting the urgent attention of the United Nations General Assembly.
Despite President Sheinbaum’s rejection of the CED’s claims, recent history and official data tell a grim story:
- High-Profile Cases:
- Yonathan Mendoza (17 years old): Taken from his home by the police; he was never returned.
- Nitza Paola Alvarado & Family: Detained by the Army in Chihuahua.
- Nine Young People in Oaxaca: Two state Attorney General’s Office agents were the only individuals arrested for “direct” involvement in their disappearance.
- Nuevo Laredo: The Navy was compelled to apologize for the kidnapping of at least 27 people.
- Five Young People from Tierra Blanca, Veracruz: The state officially acknowledged: “We disappeared your children.”
- Antonio González (Zapatista): The Inter-American Court of Human Rights took 25 years to sanction Mexico for his disappearance.
- 43 Students from Ayotzinapa: Municipal and state police, together with federal agents, allegedly handed them over to organized crime.
- Former Officials in Prison: From ex-Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam and former governor Javier Duarte to Veracruz’s ex-prosecutor and Nayarit’s ex-prosecutor Edgar Veytia, multiple high-level figures face charges or prison sentences related to forced disappearances.
Meanwhile, the government’s official data on the broader crisis is equally alarming:
- 127,000 people are acknowledged by the government as “unaccounted for.”
- More than 5,600 clandestine graves have been discovered throughout the country.
- An estimated 72,000 unidentified bodies have accumulated in forensic facilities, creating a national “forensic crisis.”
- A 99% impunity rate for enforced disappearance cases persists.
These troubling figures prompted the CED to renew pressure on the Mexican government. In the past decade, the committee has issued repeated recommendations for reforms to address the mounting crisis—ranging from improving forensic identification processes to more effectively involving families in searches. Despite some recent legislative efforts and outreach initiatives from the administration, critics point to a lack of concrete, lasting action.
Government’s Reaction
In addition to President Sheinbaum’s strong denial, the Interior and Foreign Affairs ministries, the president of the Senate, the president of the ruling Morena party, and even the National Human Rights Commission have publicly rejected the UN’s characterization of forced disappearances. Sheinbaum announced sending a diplomatic note to the UN expressing “disagreement” with the CED’s findings.
“First of all, we reject it. Because in Mexico there is no such thing as forced disappearance by the State,” Sheinbaum said, reiterating her argument that disappearances in Mexico stem primarily from organized crime. “We have always fought against it; it does not exist in Mexico. There is a phenomenon of disappearances linked to organized crime, and we are doing everything in our power to combat it.”
Recent weeks had seen the president adopt a more open stance on addressing disappearances, including promoting new legislation and reactivating government agencies that had lost prominence under her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. However, she has once again firmly dismissed the narrative presented by the UN Committee—similarly to her rejection of criticism from the Mexican Church when it raised concerns about disappearances.
A Decade of Warnings
Over the past ten years, the CED has repeatedly evaluated Mexico’s human rights situation, issuing reports in 2015, 2018, and 2022. Among its principal concerns:
- The government’s failure to adequately search for victims.
- Obstacles to justice and truth for families.
- A chaotic and lengthy reparations process.
- Significant gaps in the official registry of missing persons—often due to under-reporting or non-compliance by state Attorney General’s Offices.
- A growing need to incorporate victims’ families in decision-making processes.
- A backlog of 72,000 unidentified bodies awaiting forensic identification.
Mexico tops the global chart for urgent actions—an emergency process for cases of potential enforced disappearance—registered with the UN. To date, 681 requests have been filed, surpassing countries like Iraq (608) and significantly outpacing Colombia (233).
The latest high-profile case to prompt an “urgent action” request was Teuchitlán. The Guanajuato Platform for Truth and Justice asked the UN to order precautionary measures to safeguard evidence at the Izaguirre ranch, where over 1,300 items of potential forensic significance were found.
Nevertheless, President Sheinbaum defended her administration’s efforts on Tuesday, stating, “The Prosecutor’s Office is working on it, and I will repeat it once again: what we have asked of the Prosecutor’s Office—and the Prosecutor’s Office, in its autonomy, is carrying out—is the truth.”
Despite intense international scrutiny and mounting pressure from families and advocacy organizations, the Mexican government maintains its position that enforced disappearances are not state policy. Whether this stance will change in response to the CED’s unprecedented move at the United Nations General Assembly remains to be seen. In the meantime, families across Mexico, along with human rights groups, continue their call for greater transparency, comprehensive investigations, and the swift implementation of reforms long recommended by domestic and international experts alike.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - In the wake of a damning United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) report, President Claudia Sheinbaum has categorically denied the existence of forced disappearances carried out by state actors in Mexico. During a press conference on Tuesday, she stated firmly: “In Mexico, there are no forced disappearances by the State,” asserting that disappearances in the country are caused exclusively by organized crime.
