The fall of El Mencho brings the search for missing persons in Jalisco to a halt

The relatives of missing persons in Jalisco have decided to halt their searches, as well as their public appearances and statements, amid the wave of violence, uncertainty, and fear that permeates the state following the fall of drug trafficker Nemesio Oseguera, alias El Mencho, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). But risk is not the only challenge facing these groups these days. The local Congress is discussing an initiative that, although it was created to protect their activities, such as placing search posters in public places and preventing them from being removed, now proposes to ban them in some places. “The authorities know very well how to obstruct the search so that they are not found,” say relatives of missing persons, who request anonymity. It is not that things were any different before for those who go to the graves—whose location is given to them anonymously—without the company of the authorities, armed only with picks and shovels, and who have been victims of kidnappings or direct attacks on their lives. Now, as the local government assures that things are gradually returning to “normal,” a sense that something is about to happen weighs heavily on the state and the entire country. There is a latent threat. And some groups assure that the State Search Commission is paying attention, but without the accompaniment of the National Guard or the Sedena. “The lack of clear and transparent strategies to continue searching for our missing loved ones causes us deep uncertainty. We find ourselves between a rock and a hard place: aware that we cannot risk our safety or our lives without the protection, safeguarding, and accompaniment of the National Guard. Our searches will not stop because disappearances in the state and the country continue, with or without emergency codes. Searching and being searched for is a human right, and the state must protect, guarantee, and respect it," one of the groups said in a statement. Jonathan Ávila, from the Center for Justice for Peace and Development A.C. (Cepad) in Jalisco, assures that what is being experienced in the state, following the operation against El Mencho, is a context that the families are no strangers to. "This fear and uncertainty that we have experienced in recent days is just a sample of what families experience on a daily basis when they go about their search processes. There have been cases where the families themselves, in the course of their efforts to locate graves, even here in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, have ended up being victims of threats, surveillance by lookouts, and even being caught in the middle of shootouts by organized crime groups trying to deter them." The State Search Commission assures that it continues to receive families during normal hours and that cases are being followed up. “Even with the activation of Code Red in the state, the facilities remained open and assistance to individuals and groups continued,” the institution said in an email. Some groups indicate that searches will be canceled in the coming weeks and even months, with a view to the World Cup, which will be hosted in Jalisco at the Akron Stadium, where four matches will be played. The official number of missing persons in Jalisco stands at 16,079, according to the State Government Registry. For its part, the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons reports that there are 12,570 victims of disappearance in the same state. In the local Congress, the initiative originally presented to prevent the search posters placed by families in various public squares in Guadalajara from being removed—a very common practice—has undergone a transformation that even the legislators themselves cannot explain. Alejandro Puerto, an independent congressman, stated on the University of Guadalajara news channel: "I must admit that the amendment to this ruling was made a couple of weeks ago; we had not noticed the details of the amendment and how it altered the spirit of the initiative. It was the collectives who made us see the seriousness of the situation, because it effectively proposes that there are prohibited places and permitted places, which is something I would never endorse under any circumstances." Ávila also cannot explain whether this was a legislative error or a malicious change. Groups have gathered outside Congress to denounce an alleged “whitewashing” of the capital by the authorities, so that their records and complaints are not in the public eye during the World Cup. “The governor's speech is not convincing because he seems more interested in sending a message to FIFA, in the context of the World Cup, than to the population to reassure them. It seems that this is more focused on those who are coming to invest and visit Jalisco than on those who live there,” says Ávila. Drug trafficking is responsible for the highest number of disappearances in Mexico. The CJNG, the group led by El Mencho until his death, is one of the main reasons why the number of disappearances in Jalisco, its stronghold, has increased alarmingly in recent years. Its criminal structure, which monopolizes everything, has focused on recruiting young people between the ages of 10 and 19, age groups that show an annual increase of between 63% and 72% in the number of disappearances in that state. Ávila says that Cepad has documented two fates for missing persons: some were kidnapped and taken to safe houses, where they were beaten, tortured, and in some cases released or killed and buried in clandestine graves—mainly in Zapopan or Tlajomulco; and the other involves forced recruitment through false job offers on social media, especially targeting young people, as seen in the case of Rancho Izaguierre. Brothers abducted from their homes in the early hours of the morning, or parents kidnapped and murdered, buried in graves that their daughters continue to search for. "Drug trafficking groups have been perpetrators of disappearances, and also with the authorization or collusion or even omission of state authorities, which has allowed violence to become even more widespread. We have documented how these cases are not about people disappearing into thin air, but rather being taken away either on the street or even from their own homes... And from following up on cases or analyzing convictions, you can see very clearly the link between the authorities who help and collude with the criminal structures or agents who carry out these disappearances," says Ávila. According to various studies by the University of Guadalajara, drug trafficking groups “disappear” people in various ways: when they try to sell a vehicle or find work, and also in car accidents. In April 2025, during a conversation at ITESO, the Jesuit University of Guadalajara, Rossana Reguillo Cruz, professor emeritus, said that Mexico was facing a “heartless machine that produces and exterminates bodies in order to reproduce itself.” Reguillo made calculations and claimed that the CJNG would need between 30,000 and 50,000 operators of all kinds, such as mechanics, nurses, cooks, and hitmen, to sustain and continue to nourish its structure.