Mexico says many disappeared people could be alive. Rights groups want more to be done

There are more than 130,000 records of missing people in Mexico since 2006, as the country seeks to improve its recordkeeping on the large number of disappeared.

Mexican officials said in a presentation Friday that of those 130,178 missing people in the national record, more than a third don’t have sufficient information in the database to conduct a proper search.

Missing data can include names, dates of birth or the circumstances of the individual’s disappearance.

Mexican officials say another third of the individuals classified as missing may be alive — after cross-referencing their record with other databases, officials say some have shown activity like tax filings or marriage certificates.

Activists for years have said that Mexican authorities don’t do enough to search for the large number of missing, which has increased as cartel violence has worsened.

Several human rights groups said in a joint statement Friday that many disappearances in Mexico go unreported. They called on the government to be more clear about the methodology used to assess the missing persons database.

"Reducing this crisis to administerial processes isn't just a methodological error, it's a political decision that makes the victims invisible," the groups said.