Disappearance of eight young people and the silence of three states highlights opacity of crime in Mexico

At least eight young people disappeared at the end of February on the beaches of Oaxaca, on the Mexican Pacific. They had departed from Tlaxcala, in the center of the country. At the beginning of March, a vehicle with nine bodies inside was abandoned on a highway, on the border with Puebla, 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the coast. These details, the only ones that have been verified so far, involve three state governments in the investigation of at least one disappearance and one massacre. Despite the seriousness of the matter, none of the three entities has taken any steps to explain what happened, how a group of young people disappeared without trace from one of the most popular tourist enclaves in the country, and what the relationship is with the scene of a mobile massacre. Meanwhile, lies and silence.

Mexico has shown that it is capable of deploying more than 3,500 security agents in record time to transport 29 drug lords to the United States, as happened last week, but it seems incapable of taking steps forward when it comes to the disappearance of eight young Mexicans, of little importance on the other side of the border. In a country with over 110,000 missing persons and a 95% impunity rate, the case of the young people from Tlaxcala has been caught between the “indications” of the prosecutors’ offices and the ministries of security and government of three states, which try to shift responsibility to their neighbors.

At the end of February, Angie Lizeth Pérez, 29, and Brenda Mariel Salas, 19, left together in a Ford Fiesta from Tlaxcala to travel to Huatulco, one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Mexican coast. On February 27, their families lost contact with them. The following day, Raúl Emmanuel González and Noemí Yamileth, both 28, disappeared. The last time they were heard from was in Zipolite, one of the most famous beaches on this coast, about 30 miles from where Angie and Brenda went missing. The Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office received the four reports of the disappearances.

On February 28 Jacqueline Ailet Meza, 23, was also taken from Zipolite, according to her mother in a Facebook post. “Please, I ask for your help, my daughter disappeared last night on a beach in Huatulco, called Zipolite. They took her and until now we know nothing about my daughter. She was taken from a food place near the same beach, two little ones, five and three years old, are waiting for her,” the woman wrote on March 1. She later filed the corresponding complaint with the Oaxaca Search Commission.

On the same day and in the same place, Lesly Noya’s trail went cold. At 11 a.m. on February 28, her family heard from her for the last time. She was 21 years old. They reported her disappearance to the District Attorney’s Office in Tlaxcala, where the young woman was from. The authorities in Oaxaca and Tlaxcala issued search orders for these six people. But, in addition, on social media, friends and family members alerted the disappearance of Rubén Antonio Ramos and Rolando Armando Evaristo, both 22 and also from Tlaxcala. It is not known when or where they disappeared, but their loved ones shared their search orders along with the other six.

On Monday, attention shifted back to Puebla. Brenda Mariel Salas was found alive there, according to the Oaxaca Prosecutor’s Office, which did not explain when she had been found, nor in what condition, nor how she had arrived there, hundreds of kilometers from where she had been with her friend Angie. Brenda was found alone. On the same day, the Puebla police reported the discovery of an abandoned car on the highway that connects the state with Oaxaca. It was on the side of the asphalt, right on the border of the two states. Inside the vehicle were nine bodies — five men and four women — as EL PAÍS has been able to confirm. The discovery triggered the same questions that remain to this day: were they the young men from Tlaxcala? And if so, who were they?

“There are indications that some [of the] bodies are probably from people there, but we have to wait,” said Puebla’s Secretary of Security Francisco Sánchez on Monday, who added with derision: “Here you go: are you observing where the bodies were found? Yes? Where? Where is it? Where is it? It is the border between Puebla and Oaxaca, right? We haven’t had these events in the state, yes or no?” While the official pointed unambiguously to the neighboring authorities, the state prosecutor of Oaxaca, Bernardo Rodríguez, affirmed that since the bodies had been located in Puebla, it is the Puebla authorities who must make the identification. For its part, for the moment, “there is no update, investigations are being carried out and what can be made public has already been made public,” the department indicated to EL PAÍS.

The lack of official information has left ideal gaps for misinformation to spread. In recent days, screenshots of a WhatsApp group called “Los Zacapuaxtlas” have appeared on websites, radio and television, which have been attributed without proof to the missing youths. In the images, to which this newspaper has had access, no name related to the eight youths can be seen, nor is there any link to them in the texts. However, many media outlets have reported that the boys were part of this group, which allegedly carried out robberies, the supposed reason for their disappearance.

Given the lack of data from governments and online hoaxes, it has been left to the families of the missing girls to provide information about what happened to them. Monica, Jacqueline Ailet Meza’s sister, confirmed that the girl had been found dead and wrote a farewell on Instagram for her and her boyfriend (whose name has not been published): “Rest in peace my little angels, it was no way to die and even less for you, you deserved another farewell.” The woman has not given details of the discovery of her sister’s body and whether it was in the car found on the road between Puebla and Oaxaca.

The same thing happened with Lesly Noya. On Tuesday, Karla, her sister, also said goodbye to her on Facebook: “My beautiful girl, they have taken you from my life and I could not protect you. I don’t have the mind now to be able to accept what is happening, I wish that all this was a nightmare and that tomorrow everything would be fine, your only mistake was trusting the wrong people, my girl.” And Angie Pérez’s mother wrote to EL PAÍS: “My daughter had nothing to do with that group. If they really investigate they will find out that there are many things there, and my daughter did not deserve that.”

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