Search for missing relatives in Mexican city marks 2 years

IGUALA, Mexico — In the two years since dozens of families in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero banded together to search for relatives who have disappeared, Maria Carmen Figueroa Acevedo has missed only one weekly gathering.

The real total is believed to be significantly higher due to the fact that many families do not report their loved ones’ disappearances out of fear, because many of the disappearances are believed tied to drug violence and reprisals by cartels.



Since its formation two years ago, the group’s members have had the remains of 18 relatives returned to them by authorities.

The Other Disappeared collective formed in November 2014, less than two months after 43 students from a rural teachers college were abducted by local police in Iguala and turned over to a drug cartel.