Disappeared and 56 thousand bodies await Human Identification Laboratory

The more than 110 thousand missing and 56 thousand unidentified bodies due to the forensic crisis and disappearances that México is going through are waiting for the inauguration on January 30 of the Human Identification Laboratory (LIH) of National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN)whose objective is to identify bone remains through the molecular biology and other techniques; as well as collecting DNA from relatives of disappeared persons to integrate a database.

Since May 2022, the federal government announced the creation of the LIH for the identification of complex samples of human remains that, due to their degradation, were relegated to the prosecutor’s offices of our country.

Eight months later, with an investment of around 15 million pesos and trained personnel at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria, it is expected to come into operation. the laboratory that will have the capacity to take – on a monthly basis – close to a thousand reference DNA samples from relatives of disappeared persons; and capacity to process between 70 and 80 samples of bone remains in a month.

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It should be noted that last January 16 marked the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the General Law on Forced Disappearance of Persons without, up to now, fully complying with provisions such as the implementation of the Approved Search Protocol; the creation of the National Forensic Data Bank; and the Registry of Unidentified and Unclaimed Deceased Persons.

The crises

In the last two decades, México has become a territory where people disappear every day. Of the 110,423 disappeared and unlocated persons who remained in that capacity between March 15, 1964 and January 29, 2023, according to the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons (RNPDNO)63.20% arose between 2006 and so far in 2023.

During the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 39,952 missing persons (31,772) and missing persons (8,181) have been registered. 36.8% of those recorded in both qualities since registration was made.

On the other hand, the overwhelming rates of violence in México revealed the forensic crisis in September 2018, when a trailer with more than 200 corpses was found in the municipality of Tlaquepaque in Jalisco (state with the highest numbers of disappearances), since the Regional morgues were overcrowded.

Specialists agree that the upsurge in violence that occurred since 2006 as a result of the start of the so-called “War against drugs”; the undetermined number of clandestine graves; decades of impunity; the lack of commitment from federal and state prosecutors; as well as the institutional abandonment in forensic areas, are some of the factors that deepen these crises in México that, among other challenges, have ahead of them the identification of 56 thousand bodies.

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“The forensic crisis is the result of years of neglect, of the lack of concern in the entire forensic investigation process, which of course leads to a lack of identification and, therefore, impunity. So, this means that bringing down the crisis means facing up to these high levels of impunity. It involves recognizing missing persons and bringing them back to their family bosom; but also to society.

— Roxana Enríquez of the Mexican Forensic Anthropology Team.

What is a missing person and a missing person?

In México a person not located is who you don’t know Location; while a Missing person Her relatives do not know her whereabouts and it is presumed that her absence is related to the commission of a crime.

People who remain missing and not located (From March 1964 to January 29, 2023)

By state

1. Jalisco (15 thousand 43)
2. Tamaulipas (12 thousand 481)
3. Edomex (11 thousand 934)
4. Veracruz (7 thousand 479)
5. Nuevo León (6 thousand 445)
6. Sinaloa (5 thousand 686)
7. CDMX (5 thousand 240)
8. Michoacán (4 thousand 911)
9. Sonora (4 thousand 472)
10. Guerrero (3 thousand 983)
11. Coahuila (3 thousand 714)
12. Chihuahua (3 thousand 506)
13. Zacatecas (3 thousand 388)
14. Guanajuato (3 thousand 162)
15. Puebla (2 thousand 470)
16. Baja California (2 thousand 288)
17. Morelos (2 thousand 274)
18. Nayarit (thousand 662)
19. Colima (thousand 493)
20. Chiapas (thousand 227)
21. San Luis Potosi (862)
22. Quintana Roo (849)
23. Baja California Sur (837)
24. Hidalgo (819)
25. Durango (792)
26. Oaxaca (597)
27. Queretaro (541)
28. Aguascalientes (357)
29. Yucatan (340)
30. Tabasco 251)
31. Campeche (198)
32. Tlaxcala (160)

*Font: RNPDNO

States with the most disappearances in 2022

• Nuevo León (2 thousand 783)
• Veracruz (thousand 646)
• Edomex (thousand 519)
• Chiapas (851)
• Zacatecas (793)

*Font: RNPDNO

forensic crisis

• There are more than 56,000 unidentified bodies in México.
• Sccording to INEGI data, our country has 283 units, 399 forensic laboratories and 8,176 experts.
• The 8 thousand 176 experts cannot cope because they are also dedicated to other expert work and not only to identify bodies.

*Font: FOUND.

Keep reading: Families of the disappeared close FGR for lack of a National Forensic Data Bank