Ceci Flores found her son's remains during a search in northern Mexico in late March. He disappeared in 2019. She is well known in her country for her role within a collective of mothers who search for their missing loved ones, particularly victims of cartels. These numerous groups intend to compensate for the lack of action by the authorities.

Published on: 05/04/2026 - 6:25 p.m. Modified on: 05/06/2026 - 5:59 p.m.

“No mother deserves to find only the bones of her son, to hold only bones in her arms.” In a video broadcast on March 24, Ceci Flores assures her: the bone she is holding in her hand is that of her son, Marco Antonio. The scene is filmed in a semi-desert location, near the town of Hermosillo, in the state of Sonora (northwest Mexico), where Marco Antonio disappeared in May 2019, after being kidnapped by an armed group.

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A few days later, a DNA test confirmed that it was indeed Ceci Flores' son, even though she was already strongly convinced of this when his bones were found during the search - the clothes discovered nearby corresponding, according to her, to those he was wearing at the time of his disappearance.

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It was thanks to the testimony of one of the individuals responsible for his disappearance that searches were carried out in the area where his remains were found – testimony collected by the authorities, according to her.

More than 133,000 people officially missing in Mexico

Disappearances are a scourge in Mexico. According to a national registry set up in 2019, more than 133,000 people are officially “missing and unlocated”. This number could, however, be higher, because not all disappearances are reported, due to several factors: fear, lack of trust in the authorities, etc.

Criminal groups are responsible for a large part of these disappearances. But the authorities are also singled out for their direct or indirect responsibility in certain disappearances, as recently indicated by the United Nations. One of the most infamous cases involving authorities involved the kidnapping and disappearance of 43 students from the Rural Normal School in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero state, in 2014.

The disappearances concern adults, men and women, but also children. Ceci Flores explains: "As for my son, Marco Antonio, it was a cartel that made him disappear, because he had a store where he sold drinks, food, etc., but also drugs, except that he did not work for the cartel." But disappearances affect all types of people, not just those involved in illicit or cartel-related activities.

“Mothers wouldn’t need to do the research themselves if the authorities did their job”

In addition to Marco Antonio, whose remains she has just found, Ceci Flores is still looking for Alejandro, another of her sons, who disappeared in 2015. Not to mention that another of her children had also been kidnapped in 2019, at the same time as Marco Antonio: she had, however, found him alive a few days later.

It was in this context that, the same year, she created the collective “Madres Buscadoras de Sonora” (“Mothers Seeking Sonora”), which brings together mothers searching for their missing loved ones.

"I created it because of the disappearance of my sons. Mothers would not need to do the searches themselves if the authorities were doing their job, because they have the technology, tools and resources to do it. In fact, it is necessary to form search collectives due to the inaction of the authorities to search, investigate and locate the missing people. We search the fields with picks, shovels and probes. We search for the deceased, but also alive: we go to the detention centers, we walk the streets... We have already found more than 3,000 people alive, and more than 2,700 dead [Our editorial team was not able to verify these figures independently, Editor's note]. When I found the remains of Marco Antonio, it was very painful, because I knew that I was never going to see him again, not to mention that we only recovered a few bones.

“We are exposing something that should never happen”

According to an Amnesty International report, more than 200 collectives of families of missing persons exist in Mexico, made up of 90% women. The report highlights the difficulties and dangers they face: assassinations, disappearances, threats, attacks, and even stigmatization. Between February 2011 and May 2025, at least 30 assassinations of relatives of the disappeared were recorded.

Latest case: that of Cecilia García Ramblas. She was a member of a collective in Salamanca, in the state of Guanajuato. His body was found lifeless a few days after his kidnapping in mid-March.

Ceci Flores is aware of the risks:

"I receive threats every day to stop the search. The problem is that we show all the remains we find, which is detrimental to the authorities and the cartels, because we are exposing something that should never happen. I cannot say that they are the ones threatening me, but the threats are daily. People have already pointed guns at me and other mothers. Some have disappeared and been executed. We would like to be more protected by the authorities, in particular at the site of the excavations."

Despite the risks, Ceci Flores does not intend to give up:

“Love for our missing loved ones makes us forget fear. I want to continue to speak about our reality, so that people know that we exist, and to give visibility to our missing, who are neither statistics nor figures, but people who have the right to be sought, whatever their past.”

She also emphasizes the fate of children who find themselves alone when their parents disappear. “Many become orphans and need help from society to get by.”

To find out more, also find our column on this subject, below:

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