Mexico: mothers searching for missing persons find 18 bodies covered with lime in clandestine graves in Sonora

The NGO Madres Buscadoras de Sonora found at least 18 human bodies in clandestine graves and bonfires located about 30 kilometers from Hermosillo, capital of the northwestern state. Mexican from Sonora, as reported by the association itself on Thursday.

Through their social networks, the organization made up of grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters and sisters of disappeared persons, announced that the finding was followed up on an anonymous complaint that informed them about a possible clandestine burial used by criminal groups.

The discovery occurred around noon on Wednesday after a day of search that dozens of women had started since dawn and that led them to travel several kilometers.

As they explained, following a fetid smell of decomposition, they found the site with the graves and the bonfire on the so-called Costa de Hermosillo, a desert agricultural area located between the state capital and the Bay of Kino, in the Sea of ​​Cortez.

Bone remains were found in the 14 holes, some of them calcined and others in a state of decomposition.

The bodies were covered with lime to prevent them from emitting a foul odor.

Ceci Patricia Flores Armenta, leader of the Madres Buscadoras de Sonora collective, reported the discovery through a WhatsApp group, there she pointed out that although they have been “combing” the state of Sonora for three years, it is always difficult to find “clandestine cemeteries.”

He waited on this site to find the remains of his son Marco Antonio, who disappeared in 2018.

Hours later, the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Sonora confirmed that expert services personnel arrived in the area and began criminal prosecution work.

He added that in accordance with the protocols established by a coroner, they are coordinating the recovery of bone pieces and evidence, in order to determine the number of bodies in this finding and proceed to carry out genetic identification comparisons.

The Ministerial Criminal Investigation Agency called on the thousands of Sonoran families who are looking for a loved one who is a victim of disappearance to go to the facilities of the Sonora Prosecutor’s Office to carry out a genetic test and accelerate the DNA identification processes.

The surface where the graves were found is located on Highway 20, on a dirt road, in the Miguel Alemán town.

Mexico has accumulated since 1964, according to data from the National Search Commission (CNB), more than 95,000 missing and non-located people, the vast majority since the beginning of the military war against drug trafficking that began in 2006.

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