Human rights organizations and families of missing persons are demanding that the Mexican government cease the “criminalization and repression” of search collectives.
These groups report a systematic pattern of stigmatization and police obstruction during peaceful protests held in the wake of the 2026 FIFA World Cup opening.
In a joint statement, organizations including DATACIVICA, Fundar, and Luz de Esperanza denounced the “disproportionate presence of police elements” and judicial summons aimed at silencing their search for over 134,000 missing individuals.
Tensions escalated after Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez questioned the legitimacy of the movements, alleging that some collectives received funding from government opponents to disrupt World Cup-related events.
The collectives categorically denied these accusations, stating that shifting the debate toward financial motives is a strategy to delegitimize their cause and ignore the national disappearance crisis. They highlighted several instances of state-led obstruction:
- Toluca: Authorities surrounded searchers with police, including mounted officers, to block a symbolic “anti-World Cup” demonstration.
- Puebla: Approximately 300 riot police surrounded the Voz de los Desaparecidos collective, leading to physical confrontations and the seizure of belongings.
- Mexico City: Seventeen buses carrying families and students from Ayotzinapa were detained at the Tlalpan toll booth under the guise of “national security,” forcing the cancellation of a planned rally.
“The sovereignty and greatness of a State are not measured by its ability to organize a World Cup, but by its capacity to guarantee justice,” the statement read.
The organizations are calling for an immediate end to official rhetoric that criminalizes their search efforts, a guarantee of their right to protest, and a substantive institutional response to the crisis of disappearances.
They emphasize that the families are not a public security problem or a political issue, but victims demanding the truth from a State that has failed to protect them.
Source: El Universal
