A delegation of European parliamentarians and European and Mexican civil organizations made an urgent call this Thursday to the authorities in Mexico in the face of the crisis of disappearances and violence that the country is going through, where there are more than 133,000 official records of missing people.
With a press conference outside the Government Palace of Chiapas, the delegation concluded two weeks of work in the country, under the ‘Weaving Dialogues, Defending Rights: European Union-Mexico’ program.
This program was focused on the defense of human rights, attention to the crisis of disappearances and the protection of migrants in vulnerable situations in Mexico.
In addition, the European representatives held meetings with Mexican authorities, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mexican Commission for Aid to Refugees (COMAR) and the Senate.
During the conference, members of the European Parliament, the Catalan Cooperation Agency, the Fons Català de Cooperació, the Inter-American Federation of Lawyers, among other organizations, highlighted the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis in the country.
MEP Diana Riba i Giner warned that, despite institutional opening, structural challenges persist in penitentiary matters and victim care.
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“Mexico faces figures similar to countries at war, without being in one,” Riba highlighted.
Currently, Mexico has more than 133,000 missing people, according to data from the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons (RNPDNO), which counts disappearances since the 1950s.
Raúl Vera, president of the board of directors of the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba), denounced the “profound contradiction” of the official discourse compared to the reality of violence in cities, rural areas, and communities.
“Disappearances are not isolated events, they are systematic practices sustained by the complicity or omission of the State,” said Vera, denouncing a “policy of silence that normalizes horror.”
In Chiapas, according to Frayba figures, 1,746 disappearances have been documented during the current government of Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar, who took office in December 2024.
In addition, the governor of Chiapas has acknowledged the existence of 25 clandestine graves with more than 30 bodies located, without giving more details, which reinforces the magnitude of the crisis, Vera said.
During the administration of former governor Rutilio Escandón Cadenas (2018-2024), 1,204 disappearances were recorded in Chiapas: 971 men and 233 women, mainly in the municipalities of Tapachula, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Frontera Comalapa and Palenque, according to Frayba data.
Mavi Cruz, from the Fray Matías de Córdova Human Rights Center, warned about the deterioration of the protection system in Mexico, especially for those who migrate.
“Migrants do not disappear by choice, they flee from structural violence and face an alarming lack of institutional protection,” he noted.
Finally, the European delegation warned of the need to strengthen public policies on migration, security and justice, and insisted that the new European Union-Mexico Global Agreement must include binding commitments on human rights.
“Rights cannot be a symbolic clause, they must be the axis of all cooperation,” Riba emphasized.
With information from EFE
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