Crisis Unveiled: Mexico’s War on Drugs Census Raises Eyebrows

The Mexican government recently launched a review of the official record of “disappeared” individuals, ostensibly to eliminate mistakes. This has created debate and raised concerns among activists. Critics, however, claim that the lack of transparency around this initiative reveals a hidden motive to alter figures ahead of the 2024 presidential race.

According to the most recent release, the government claims to have authenticated only 12,377 of the 113,000 recorded cases of missing people. An additional 16,681 people were found alive or through death certificates. In the vast majority of cases, however, insufficient information impedes efforts to identify or launch search processes, leaving the fate of these persons undetermined.

The escalating incidence of disappearances has become a symbol of Mexico’s endemic insecurity. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has criticized these estimates as exaggerated, attributing them to political motivations aimed at weakening his administration. While the discussion over statistical accuracy continues, experts contend that the true issue is tackling the core cause — impunity.

Carlos Pérez Ricart, a political scientist in Mexico City, emphasized the importance of shifting the attention away from numbers and toward understanding how and why people disappear and what mechanisms are in place to locate them. The militaristic “war on drugs,” which began in 2006, brought in a surge in violence that has lasted throughout López Obrador’s presidency, with unfulfilled promises of a rebuilt security apparatus.