The fate of 16,681 people out of a total of more than 110,000 people registered as “disappeared”, often cases related to drug trafficking, is now known: most of them are alive and 4,134 are dead, the Mexican government announced on Thursday.
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Of these 16,681 missing people, 3,945 are still living at home, 8,405 others are also alive and the local authorities have provided proof of life, 197 are in prison and 4,134 have died, emphasized the Mexican Defense Minister. “Ministry of the Interior, Luisa María Alcalde.
“Important clues” could also help find 17,843 other people who were also reported missing, she added.
Of the 110,000 people reported missing, only 12,377 (11%) have evidence proving a disappearance and are the subject of a public prosecutor's investigation.
In total, of 110,964 cases of enforced disappearance, 15% have been solved, Ms. Alcalde said.
Mexico's missing persons registry contains very old cases, some dating back to 1961 but most dating back to 2006, the year the federal government launched a military operation against drug trafficking.
The disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Normal School (Guerrero state, south) in September 2014 is one of the most famous.
So far, only the bones of three of the victims have been found, who are believed to have been kidnapped by drug traffickers with the cooperation of police and army personnel.