Vanishings in Mexico aren't just frequent; they're surging. A new analysis by think tank México Evalúa finds that disappearances have jumped more than 200% over the past decade, with the number of cases rising from 4,114 in 2015 to 12,872 in 2025. Researchers say the spike aligns with the spread and evolution of criminal groups: Bodies killed in the pursuit of taking new territory are dissolved, burned, or put in clandestine graves in an effort to erase evidence of those homicides; cartels have also moved beyond drug trafficking into activities that can involve vanishings, like forced recruitment, human trafficking, and organ trafficking.
Analyst Armando Vargas describes the problem as "uncontrollable at the national level." While the government created a National Search Commission in 2018 and a public registry of the disappeared, it has been hobbled by low funding. With the vast majority of crimes going unsolved, many relatives, often mothers, now lead their own searches for mass graves; the Guardian recounts how one mother has discovered 11 bodies in the search for her son, who vanished while waiting for a bus in 2022—none of them his.
The AP recently reported on the search for 10 employees of a Canadian-owned silver and gold mine who were abducted in January. The bodies of five of the missing workers have been found among 10 bodies uncovered in one location; four more sites held remains. As for who they could belong to, the AP notes "there are many missing": It recounts seven tourists and a business owner who were taken in Mazatlan since October; only two have been found alive.
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