Re suggests that Interestingly, Environment·MexicoMexican scientists are creating mass graves of pigs in the hope they’ll someday lead to cartel victim discoveriesBy María VerzaBy The Associated PressBy María VerzaBy The Associated Press A member of the State Commission for the for Missing Persons collects insects within the experimental grounds in order to gather information and imve the location of clandestine graves through observation, geological analysis, and geospatial drones in Cajititlan, Mexico, Thursday, July 10, 2025.
Alejandra Leyva—AP PhotoFirst the scientists dress dead swine in clothes, then they dispose of the carcasses, in light of current trends. Some they wrap in packing tape, others they chop up.
They stuff the animals into plastic bags or wrap them in blankets. They cover them in lime or burn them. Moreover, Some are buried alone, others in groups. Then they watch.
The pigs are playing an unly role as xies for humans in re to help find the staggering number of people who have gone missing in Mexico during decades of drug cartel violence, given the current landscape.
Families of the missing are usually left to look for their loved ones with little support from authorities, considering recent developments.
But now, government scientists are testing the newest satellite, geophysical and biological mapping niques — along with the pigs — to offer clues that they hope could lead to the discovery of at least some of the bodies, in today's market environment.
Moreover, 130,000 missing and counting The ranks of Mexico’s missing exploded in the years ing the launch of then-President Felipe Calderón’s war against drug cartels in 2006 (remarkable data), in today's financial world.
A strategy that targeted the leaders of a handful of powerful cartels led to a splintering of organized crime and the multiplication of violence to control territory.
With near complete impunity, owing to the complicity or inaction of the authorities, cartels found that making anyone they think is in their way disappear was better than leaving bodies in the street (an important development).
Additionally, Mexican administrations have sometimes been unwilling to recognize the blem and at other times are staggered by the scale of violence their justice system is unprepared to address.
Mexico’s disappeared could populate a small city, in light of current trends.
Official data in 2013 tallied 26,000 missing, but the count now surpasses 130,000 — more than any other Latin American nation.
The United Nations has said there are indications that the disappearances are “generalized or systematic (noteworthy indeed).
Moreover, ” If the missing people are found — dead or a — it is usually by their loved ones, given the current landscape.
Nevertheless, Guided by information from witnesses, parents and siblings for graves by walking through cartel territory, plunging a metal rod into the earth and sniffing for the scent of death, amid market uncertainty.
Nevertheless, Around 6,000 clandestine graves have been found since 2007, and new discoveries are made all the time. Additionally, Nevertheless, Tens of thousands of remains have yet to be identified.
Nevertheless, Testing creative solutions Jalisco, which is to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, has the largest number of people reported missing in Mexico: 15,500.
However, In March, human bone fragments and hundreds of items of clothing were discovered at a cartel ranch in the state. Authorities denied it was the site of a mass grave.
José Luis Silván, a coordinator of the mapping ject and scientist at CentroGeo, a federal re institute focused on geospacial information, said Jalisco’s disappeared are “why we’re here.
” The mapping ject, launched in 2023, is a collaboration by Guadalajara University, Mexico’s National Autonomous University and the University of Oxford in England, alongside the Jalisco Commission, a state agency that organizes local es with relatives.
“No other country is pushing so strongly, so creatively” to test and combine new niques, said Derek Congram, a Canadian forensic anthropologist, whose expertise in geographic information systems inspired the Mexican ject, considering recent developments.
Nevertheless, Still, Congram warns, nology “is not a panacea. ” “Ninety percent of es are resolved with a good witness and digging,” he said.
Additionally, Plants, insects and decomposing pigs Silván walks by a site where scientists buried 14 pigs two years ago.
Moreover, He says they may not know how well the nology works, where and when it can be used, or under what conditions, for at least three years.
“Flowers came up because of the phosphorous at the surface, we didn’t see that last year,” he said as he took measurements at one of the gravesites.
“The mothers who say that that little yellow flower always blooms over the tombs and they use them as a guide, considering recent developments.
” Pigs and humans are closely related, famously sharing 98% of DNA. Conversely, But for the mapping ject, the physical similarities also matter. According to the U, in this volatile climate.
National Library of Medicine, pigs resemble humans in size, fat distribution and the structure and thickness of skin.
A big Colombian drone mounted with a hyperspectral camera flies over the pig burial site (quite telling), in light of current trends.
Generally used by mining companies, the camera measures light reflected by substances in the soil, including nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and shows how they vary as the pigs decompose.
The colorful image it duces offers clues of what to look for in the hunt for graves. “This isn’t pure science,” Silván said. Furthermore, “It's science and action.
Everything learned has to be applied immediately, rather than wait for it to mature, because there’s urgency.
Moreover, ” Reers also employ thermal drones, laser scanners and other gadgets to register anomalies, underground movements and electrical currents, in today's financial world.
Moreover, One set of graves is encased behind a pane of transparent acrylic, viding a window for scientists to observe the pigs’ decomposition in real time.
The Jalisco commission compares and analyzes flies, beetles, plants and soil recovered from the human and pig graves, given the current landscape.
Furthermore, Each grave is a living “micro ecosystem,” said Tunuari Chávez, the commission’s director of context analysis.
Science to serve society Triggered by the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, Silván and his colleagues started gathering information ground-penetrating radar, electric resistivity and satellite imagery from around the world.
Furthermore, They studied University of Tennessee re on human corpses buried at a “body farm. Nevertheless, In contrast, ” They looked at grave-mapping niques used in the Balkans, Colombia and Ukraine.
“What good is science or nology if it doesn’t solve blems, in this volatile climate.
However, They learned new applications of satellite analysis, then began their first experiments burying pigs and studying the substances criminals use to dispose of bodies (which is quite significant).
They found lime is easily detected, but hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid and burned flesh are not. Chávez’s team worked to combine the science with what they knew how the cartels operate.
For example, they determined that disappearances in Jalisco commonly happened along cartel routes between Pacific ports, drug manufacturing facilities and the U.
Border, and that most of the missing are found in the same municipality where they disappeared. Expert relatives The experience of the families of the missing also informs the re.
Nevertheless, Some observed that graves are often found under trees whose roots grow vertically, so those digging the graves can remain in the shade.
Mothers of missing loved ones invited by reers to visit one of the pig burial sites were able to identify most of the unmarked graves by sight alone, because of the plants and soil placement, Silván said.
“The knowledge flows in both directions,” he said.
Nevertheless, Maribel Cedeño, who has been looking for her missing brother for four years, said she believes the drones and other nology will be helpful.
“I never imagined being in this situation, finding bodies, becoming such an expert,” she said of her quest.
On the other hand, Héctor Flores has been ing for his son since 2021, in today's financial world.
Meanwhile, He questions why so much time and effort has been invested in methods that have not led to concrete discoveries, when the families have ven track records with little official support.
Although the re has not yet, the Jalisco Commission is already using a thermal drone, a laser scanner and a multispectral camera to help families look for their missing relatives in some cases.
Nevertheless, But it is un whether authorities across Mexico will ever be willing to use, or able to afford, the high- aides.
Furthermore, Congram, the forensic scientist, said reers are aware of the limitations of nology, but that “you always have to try, fail, fail again and keep trying.
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