Mothers looking for the remains of their missing children discovered at least a dozen bodies after digging since January 2 on a property in the Maclovio Rojas neighborhood, on the eastern edge of Tijuana.
The women said they had received an anonymous tip about the location. They said the informant described the property as a potential hiding place and a dump for a criminal organization.
Thousands of parents and family members have formed collectives across Mexico to assist each other in the search for the remains of their missing children. In Baja California, at least eight of these parent groups have hundreds of members looking for lost loved ones.
The collectives organize searches and protests in response to what they call the Mexican government’s indifference to protect or find their missing children. They also collectively lobby to bring state investigators’ attention to suspicions of clandestine tombs like that of Maclovio Rojas.
A woman with a shovel walks towards a house in the Maclovio Rojas neighborhood in eastern Tijuana.
(Public Ministry of Baja California)
As the Maclovio Rojas site is considered private property, the search party was not legally allowed to enter the premises to dig up their children’s remains on their own. On January 2, investigators from the Baja California state attorney general’s office went to the property and located a body. The investigators then packed up and left on the same day.
State officials have not said who owns the property.
Annoyed, the mothers took their own shovels and started digging, ignoring the need for rape laws, they said. They dug for days, insisting there must be more bodies buried on the property, while state officials refused to investigate further.
The group of fathers ended up locating 12 more bodies in the next two weeks, according to the prosecution and the mothers.
“We really have no other choice. The state has left us no choice but to break the law to get answers for the disappearances of our children, ”said Bárbara Martínez, whose search for her missing son was international news last year. “I know that some mothers sometimes think of getting more than just answers. You can imagine? Sicario [hit man] mothers. But I just want to bury my kids. I’m not even asking for justice. ”
The Maclovio Rojas website is the second batch of private property that search groups have entered Tijuana to search for remains. They say there are dozens of others like that. Historically, parents have focused their search on remote areas, but say the cartels have changed tactics and are now hiding bodies near their safe houses in urban areas, making them more dangerous and more difficult to excavate.
The Maclovio Rojas property has a house, an annex, a garden and two large trees on site. The hidden cemetery was located in the northwest corner of the lot. Guided by anonymous informants, the mothers also found another body in the southeast corner.
While Martínez looked for his missing son, César, his other son, Esteban, 17, disappeared in December. Esteban was last seen in the coastal town of Rosarito being taken into custody by local police, his mother said.
Martínez said it is possible that the remains of one of his sons are among those found in Maclovio Rojas, but he will have to wait months before the state prosecutor’s office does DNA tests to find out.
State prosecutor Hiram Sanchez, downtown, visits a property in eastern Tijuana on January 16, where his parents dug up the remains of at least a dozen people.
(Public Ministry of Baja California)
Angélica Ramírez is also looking for a missing loved one. She said that at first the parents received little help from the authorities.
“[The prosecutor] told me that he couldn’t support me and that he couldn’t even give us security because he would be committing a crime [by entering the premises], and he told me to send him the information, ”said Ramírez of prosecutor Hiram Sanchez.
She later said that she liked the fact that Sanchez appeared on the property when they found human remains, as he promised he would.
Ramírez is a member of Una Nación Busca T, a collective that led this particular search. She said the group had to pool their money to rent a machine to help them clear enough land to find the remains.
Sanchez said the state does not have the necessary funds to hire the necessary personnel to properly investigate each missing person or homicide case. This year, more than 100 homicides have already occurred in Tijuana. He said his office is reviewing the forensic evidence collected at the Maclovio Rojas site and collecting DNA from relatives of the missing to identify the decomposing bodies.
“Each of the bodies has certain conditions, such as how long they have been there and what conditions they were in, which determine how we proceed with the expertise,” said Sanchez. He said he visited the property to offer support to his parents for “his great effort” and to show them that the attorney general’s office supports them in their situation.
“Even without investigating, it is logical that they are victims of the fight for the sale of drugs on the streets of the east side of the city,” a government official told Zeta Weekly, an investigative magazine. He added that the criminals appear to be trying to avoid police attention by hiding the bodies under their safe houses.
Fry writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.