1,000 Bones Found in Mexico City Ahead of World Cup Amid Ongoing Violence

More than 1,000 bone fragments have been found near a lake in Mexico City, authorities and a volunteer group announced, just weeks before the World Cup is set to be hosted there. This discovery is another grim reminder of the country’s violent drug war.

The collective of families looking for their loved ones said the gruesome findings demonstrated a “devastating reality” and “a forensic crisis of incalculable dimensions.” The authorities want this to go unnoticed, but the families want the whole world to know about the tragedy occurring in Mexico City.

City authorities began exhuming the lakefront site in the eastern part of Mexico City. Prosecutors announced that 300 bone fragments, believed to belong to three people, had been found. However, the volunteer group reported finding more than 1,000 bone fragments in and around the site, including areas already examined by government agents.

Since 2006, when federal troops were deployed to combat powerful cartels, over 480,000 people have been killed and another 130,000 have gone missing in Mexico’s drug war. A U.N. committee of experts has called the crisis a “crime against humanity,” citing efforts to recover human remains hampered by public servants’ acquiescence.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticized the report, arguing it ignored new policies implemented to support families of the missing. Activists demanded uninterrupted searches until the site is fully inspected. Both Mexico City and Guadalajara are preparing for World Cup games in June, with protesters denouncing the government’s failure to properly investigate disappearances.

Guadalajara, located in Jalisco state, has more than 15,900 cases of missing persons, attributed to activities by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In February, Mexican military forces killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, one of the United States’ most-wanted drug lords, leading to an outbreak of violence. FIFA reaffirmed its confidence as a host city after this incident.

Human remains are routinely found in Jalisco, sometimes in clandestine graves. Earlier this month, at least 11 skeletal remains were discovered in hidden graves in Ixtlahuacan, a suburb of Guadalajara. Last October, dozens of bags containing human remains were recovered from a hidden grave near Guadalajara.