Serving as a 'Bloodhound' to Find Your Own Son's Grave in Northern Guerrero Paris Martinez - El Daily Post
go to original December 27, 2015

Becoming a “search dog” to find your son (El Daily Post)

Back in the ’70s, when he was younger, Guadalupe Contreras learned the profession he still practices today — tomb-building, grave-digging and the manufacturing and installation of headstones.

But starting about a year ago, Guadalupe has taken a day off from his graveside pursuits to become something else — related, but very different.

Every Sunday, Don Lupe, as his friends refer to him, grabs a machete, a hammer and a hat and goes out to the hills around Iguala to look for graves.

He’s not looking for the kinds of graves he normally works with — with headstones, crosses or the name of the deceased. The kind he’s hunting for are usually found in clandestine growing fields, in gaps in the terrain, in brushy areas or abandoned sites. They’re graves, in other words, where many of the disappeared victims of organized crime are buried.

There are 16 municipalities in the northern region of the state of Guerrero. The most important is Iguala, where Don Lupe lives. At least three criminal groups battle to control it — the Knights Templar, the Rojos and the Guerreros Unidos.

According to official information, 326 reported cases of “missing or disappeared persons” have accumulated over the last decade. Few believe that official figure reflects reality. The discrepancy is sometimes the result of negligence in registering reports or following up on them, but more often due to the tendency for families to stay silent about disappeared loved ones out of fear.

Don Lupe was one of the silent ones.

Read the rest at El Daily Post

Related: Life in a Pueblo Mágico That Is Controlled by El Narco (El Daily Post)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!