In Mexico, Nearly 100,000 People Are Missing (Published 2021)

By Oscar LopezOct. 1, 2021Nearly 100,000 people have disappeared in Mexico. Their families now search for clues among the dead.Leer en españolPhotographs By FRED RAMOS By OSCAR LOPEZThey lie in clandestine graves strewn across the desert, mingled in communal pits, or hacked to pieces and scattered on desiccated hillsides.Buried without a name, often all that’s left once their bodies are gone are the empty casings of a person: a bloodied sweatshirt, a frilly top, a tattered dress.All over Mexico, mothers wander under the scorching sun, poking at the earth and sniffing for the tell-tale scent of decomposing flesh, hoping for a scrap that points toward their missing son or daughter.For most, the answers never come.A New York Times photographer documented their search, and in Chihuahua state, he photographed the clothing that was found with unidentified bodies and preserved by investigators. “It’s a horrible uncertainty I don’t wish on anyone,” said Noemy Padilla Aldáz, who has spent two y...