Mexico’s government continues to use erroneous statistics to spread a false narrative that the cartel-controlled country is safe. In the latest attempt to mislead the public, Mexico’s government claims that a third of the country’s more than 130,000 people reported missing are believed to be alive.
During one of Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily press conferences, her team presented a report on missing persons, attempting to downplay the figure of more than 130,000 missing people in recent years. That figure, confirmed by the Mexican government, has become a black eye for Sheinbaum, as the growing number of accusations indicates that the government is not doing enough to protect the public from criminal organizations.
Several activist groups say the actual number of people captured by cartel gunmen is much higher, but that Mexico’s government is keeping it artificially low in an attempt to downplay levels of violence in the country.
The root of the problem is the Mexican government’s continued attempt to use vague crime classifications and erroneous statistics to hide the true levels of violence throughout the country. In the case of people who are captured by cartel gunmen and never heard from again, Mexico’s government generally classifies them simply as missing persons, a very vague category that includes many other cases, such as those of fugitives and those leaving abusive relationships.
By classifying them as missing and not kidnapped or another classification that included people kidnapped by armed men, the Mexican government can largely ignore the statistic and not include it in its crime index.
In cases of people who have been captured by cartel gunmen only to be murdered and their bodies disposed of, by classifying them as missing persons, Mexico can avoid having to add them to its murder statistics.
It is that number of missing people that the Mexican government claims to have found indications that a third of them are alive. In their explanation, government officials cited tax returns, vaccination records and other bureaucratic records that indicated the people had been active after the date they were reported missing. The “found” individuals are then explained as cases of fugitives or individuals leaving abusive relationships, and not victims of kidnapping by cartels.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with the Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded the Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Breitbart senior management. You can follow it on Twitter and in Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Breitbart senior management. follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
