The death of Magdaleno Pérez Santes in Mexico: The crime of searching for missing children

Mexico is experiencing a seemingly endless chain of tragedies. On Wednesday, in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, collectives made up of families of missing people reported the death of Magdaleno Pérez Santes. He was the father of Diana Paloma Pérez Vargas, a high school student who disappeared in November 2019 while on her way to school.

“Maleno” — as his family and friends refer to him — was detained on Monday by municipal police in Poza Rica, a city about 12 miles from his home in the town of Tres Cruces. According to civil society organizations, Magdaleno was detained in Poza Rica and brutally beaten, before being released a few hours later. Back home on Tuesday, he told his family that he was feeling ill. A while later, he died.

Pérez Santes was a member of the María Herrera Search Collective, the same group that includes another father of a missing child, Héctor Aparicio. He was reported missing on January 26 and nothing has been heard from him since.

Like hundreds of thousands of other people who have given up everything to search for their missing relatives in Mexico — given the lack of progress in the investigations conducted by the authorities — Magdaleno Pérez began the search for his daughter after the 16-year-old girl boarded a shared taxi to go to school on November 22, 2019. The car — which was supposed to take her from her home to her high school in Poza Rica — was never found. Nor was the driver. Diana Paloma disappeared and was never heard from again.

Maricel Torres — the leader of the María Herrera collective in Veracruz — has chosen not to make a formal statement yet regarding Magdaleno’s death. However, she confirmed that an investigation is already underway. This is one of the reasons why they don’t want to issue a statement, “so as not to hinder” the process. “[Magdaleno] was a great person, a tireless fighter searching for his daughter. The commitment we have left is to continue fighting in his honor.”

“He was always very active... these are very difficult times,” Torres lamented, in a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS.

The Veracruz State Citizens’ Council was one of the first organizations to announce Pérez Santes’ death, issuing a statement accusing the Poza Rica police of torture and detaining the father for reasons that are still unclear. However, a few minutes later, the message was deleted from their social media accounts. The group later shared the condolences posted on the collective’s website: “Dear brother, we will miss you very much.” “You leave a great void in our hearts, our great warrior.” “Your family will continue to grieve with you and search for your daughter, Diana Paola.”

“We inform you that, at the family’s request — and out of respect for their grief — the collective will issue a statement regarding the death and its demand for justice until tomorrow, Thursday, after [Pérez Santes’] burial.”

Later, Pedro Lobato — the current coordinator of the Council — said that he was in communication with other members of the group and that it would be a joint decision to publish a statement “due to the recent events and the potential risk.”

“We’re deeply saddened that Magdaleno was taken from us, without us having been able to find Diana Paola’s whereabouts,” Lobato added.

Maleno was a hardworking and optimistic man. This, despite the despair of not finding his daughter, after a search that has gone on for more than five years. According to some close friends, the father washed cars as a means of supporting himself and his family. He has been widely-described as an honest, noble and caring person.

Local media outlets have confirmed that a warrant has been issued by the Attorney General’s Office, which notes that Maleno was allegedly beaten on several parts of his body. It was also reported on Wednesday morning that municipal police officers and the regional prosecutor arrived at the home of the deceased father, where his fellow members of the María Herrera Search Collective were already present.

The Veracruz Attorney General’s Office — led by Verónica Hernández Giadáns — received a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico (CNDH) on Tuesday, March 11, after refusing to accept a previous recommendation issued by the State Human Rights Commission “for the deficient investigation into the disappearance of a person that occurred in January 2011.” This is the third time since February that the Veracruz Attorney General’s Office has been reprimanded for failing to properly carry out judicial processes concerning various cases across the state.

The security assessment — prepared in 2024 by the Movement for Our Disappeared Ones in Mexico — records that, between 2011 and 2024, 22 relatives of missing persons were murdered. Additionally, since 2018, nine individuals who have been searching for their disappeared family members have been forcibly disappeared: five have been found dead and three alive, while Lorenza Cano is still missing. The mother — who was searching for her disappeared brother — was abducted from her home by armed men in Salamanca in January 2023. She has still not been found.

In addition to Pérez Santes, since Tuesday, his fellow member of the collective — Héctor Aparicio — has been missing. Since February 5, 2017, he’s been searching for his 17-year-old son, José Alfredo. In January of that year, he disappeared in Tihuatlán, northern Veracruz.

Translated by Avik Jain Chatlani.

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