{"id":621294,"date":"2026-02-28T02:42:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/621294\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T02:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T02:42:21","slug":"the-faces-of-mexicos-disappeared-haunt-guadalajaras-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/621294\/","title":{"rendered":"The faces of Mexico\u2019s disappeared haunt Guadalajara’s streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) \u2014 The faces of Mexico\u2019s disappeared<\/a> paint the streets of Mexico\u2019s second biggest city.<\/p>\n

Thousands of fliers reading \u201cWe miss you,\u201d \u201chave you seen her?\u201d and \u201cwe\u2019re looking for you\u201d line buildings, monuments, lamp posts, parking meters, tree pots and bus stops.<\/p>\n

Workers bustle by them in throngs in the center of Guadalajara. Men play basketball on courts surrounded by them. And a steady stream of cars pass by them every day.<\/p>\n

The fliers are woven into daily life in the heart of Mexico\u2019s forced disappearance crisis: the state of Jalisco.<\/p>\n

The state, which was marked by an explosion of violence on Sunday following the killing of Mexico\u2019s most powerful cartel leader<\/a>, known as \u201cEl Mencho,\u201d<\/a> is among those with the highest number of disappeared people, with 12,500 documented cases.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police officers stand next to posters of missing persons in front of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office for Missing Persons in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

Police officers stand next to posters of missing persons in front of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office for Missing Persons in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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Now families who hang the fliers to search for their lost loved ones say they are running up against government efforts to erase the faces in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup<\/a>, where Guadalajara will be a host city in June. While clashes between cartels and Mexican forces<\/a> have brought search efforts for the missing to a halt in Jalisco, a number of local lawmakers are pushing forward a proposal that would make it easier to remove the signs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t want people coming to the World Cup, people coming from abroad, to see\u201d the fliers, said Carmen L\u00f3pez, a woman looking for her brother and nephew, who went missing in two separate incidents. \u201cIt\u2019s not in their interest, because they would get their hands dirty. It makes the government look bad in front of the entire world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s missing<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Posters<\/p>\n

Posters bearing the faces of missing people cover the Ninos Heroes monument in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

Posters bearing the faces of missing people cover the Ninos Heroes monument in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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Mexico has nearly 131,000 missing people, enough to fill a small city. Forcibly disappearing people has long been a tactic by cartels to consolidate control through terror while also concealing homicide numbers. While figures date back to 1952, the majority of people have disappeared<\/a> since the start of Mexico\u2019s war on drugs in 2006.<\/p>\n

For many, the forced disappearance crisis is emblematic of the lack of justice and deep levels of corruption that permeate Mexico, especially stark in states like Jalisco. <\/p>\n

Families like L\u00f3pez\u2019s often take matters into their own hands, organizing searches for dead bodies and hanging fliers in an attempt to continue their efforts and put pressure on local authorities. They often face extreme levels of violence themselves. Just Friday, prosecutors in the northern state of Sinaloa said they found the body of a woman who was part of a search collective for the missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle by little it kills a part of your soul. They don\u2019t only disappear your loved one, but also you as a father, or as a mother along with them,\u201d said H\u00e9ctor Flores, a leader of one of Jalisco\u2019s many search groups, Luz de Esperanza, or Light of Hope.<\/p>\n

Families fight for visibility<\/p>\n

Flores started hanging fliers in Guadalajara after his 19-year-old son was forcibly disappeared by agents from the Jalisco state prosecutor\u2019s office. The 2021 forced disappearance was later recognized by a Mexican court, pushing Flores to form the collective of 500 families investigating disappearances of relatives.<\/p>\n

His collective goes into the streets of Jalisco\u2019s capital and hangs anywhere between 2,000 and 5,000 fliers every weekend. The signs show the smiling faces of everyone from teenage girls to middle-aged men, and provide identifying details like tattoos as well as the date and location of where they went missing. <\/p>\n

Search collectives are almost constantly hanging signs because the posters are regularly taken down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an act of searching in real time, with the hope that people who see these ID cards, they can provide us with information that will help us locate our families,\u201d Flores said. \u201cIt\u2019s also an act of visibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Concerns over ban<\/p>\n

Families now worry they will face more hurdles in the wake of the cartel violence this week that has raised security concerns ahead of the summer\u2019s World Cup. <\/p>\n

In December, lawmakers proposed modifications to a bill originally intended to protect the fliers from being taken down. Local politicians attempted to modify the legislation in a way families fear creates prohibited public spaces for hanging the posters. <\/p>\n

Carmen L\u00f3pez, Flores and other relatives say the local government is trying to whitewash the issue of the missing ahead of the global sporting event. They say it follows years of efforts by authorities to downplay the depth of Mexico\u2019s disappearance crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re aware that the city doesn\u2019t look beautiful because of the search IDs, but they\u2019re not trash,\u201d said L\u00f3pez, who wore a shirt with the faces of her two missing family members. \u201cBut what are we supposed to do? We\u2019re doing everything in our power to find them.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A police officer walks past posters bearing the faces of missing persons in front of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office for Missing Persons in Guadalajara, Mexico. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

A police officer walks past posters bearing the faces of missing persons in front of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office for Missing Persons in Guadalajara, Mexico. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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The modification was pushed by state legislator Norma L\u00f3pez, a member of President Claudia Sheinbaum\u2019s<\/a> Morena party, and a number of other lawmakers.<\/p>\n

The state lawmaker in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday denied the accusation and said it was \u201cbad interpretation\u201d of the proposal by search groups, and that she wanted to defend families searching for their lost loved ones. She said one of her own relatives was also disappeared.<\/p>\n

She said if passed, the law would allow posters to be taken down inside spaces like public universities, the state legislature, the Supreme Court, museums, churches and more without penalty. She said they were already allowed in other places.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy proposal is not a basis for banning them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are all concerned about what is happening in Jalisco. The disappearances also pain me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jalisco on alert<\/p>\n

Mexican authorities have been grappling with scrutiny over Guadalajara\u2019s ability to host World Cup soccer matches<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Sheinbaum has vowed this week there was \u201cno risk\u201d for visitors, but on Thursday the Diving World Cup<\/a> set to be held in a Guadalajara suburb in March was canceled over security concerns. Earlier in the week, the Portuguese soccer federation said it was \u201cclosely monitoring the delicate situation\u201d<\/a> ahead of a friendly match against Mexico\u2019s national team in Mexico City. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some search groups in Jalisco say they have had to suspend investigating potential clandestine grave sites because Mexico\u2019s federal government told them that security forces that provide protection to teams cannot help temporarily due to the violence.<\/p>\n

The faces of Mexico\u2019s disappeared paint the streets of the country\u2019s second biggest city of Guadalajara. After an explosion of violence, families who hang the fliers to search for their lost loved ones say they are running up against government efforts to erase the faces in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup, where Guadalajara will be a host city in June. (AP video shot by: Alexis Triboulard)<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s National Search Commission for the disappeared did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

Flores\u2019 group and others have reported that they have already had to cancel search operations in grave sites around Guadalajara, leaving many feeling like justice is even further out of reach than before. <\/p>\n

The tally of missing continues to grow hour by hour. Residents in the city passing by signs on their daily commutes don\u2019t look twice.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s just normal,\u201d said Jacinto Gonz\u00e1lez, 47, strolling by hundreds of signs plastered on a wall Wednesday. <\/p>\n

After a few minutes of chatting, he added casually that his sister-in-law went missing six years ago.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A police officer walks past posters of missing persons in front of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office for Missing Persons in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

A police officer walks past posters of missing persons in front of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office for Missing Persons in Guadalajara, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/p>\n

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___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalist Alexis Triboulard contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) \u2014 The faces of Mexico\u2019s disappeared paint the streets of Mexico\u2019s second biggest city. Thousands…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":621295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[265882,1613,15581,57,69067,265886,265883,1612,265884,2222,15583,50,265885,80,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-621294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-carmen-lpez","9":"tag-central-america","10":"tag-claudia-sheinbaum","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-guadalajara","13":"tag-hctor-flores","14":"tag-jacinto-gonzlez","15":"tag-latin-america","16":"tag-luz-de-esperanza","17":"tag-mexico","18":"tag-mexico-government","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-norma-lpez","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116145956251685517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}