Around 1,200 demonstrators from around 30 civilian organizations and groups dedicated to locating missing persons marched in Guadalajara last Sunday, urging the state governor to reverse his decision to stop searches for clandestine graves based on leads provided by anonymous sources.
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro suspended the searches July 11 after a convoy of police pickups was lured—through a fake tip-off—to a semi-populated area in Tlajomulco, where a criminal gang detonated a series of explosive devices resulting in the deaths of four officers and two civilians.
A statement read out by a representative of the protesters stated: “Anonymous leads are a valuable means for relatives of disappeared persons in Mexico to undertake searches and locate our loved ones, allowing people to provide relevant information without fear of reprisal.”
The NGO collective has asked Alfaro for a meeting to hammer out protocols for responding to anonymous tip-offs.
According to federal data, as of June 30, 14,073 people are reported as missing in Jalisco.