Hermosillo unveils statue that honors the civilians looking for Mexico’s missing

The Sonoran capital of Hermosillo unveiled a statue dedicated to those in Mexico searching for missing loved ones Sunday, as the country continues to struggle with a crisis of forced disappearances.

The statue in the Plaza de las Buscadoras — or Searchers’ Plaza — holds a shovel in one hand and the other to her heart as she kneels in the soil.

At the plaza’s inauguration, Hermosillo’s mayor was joined by groups dedicated to searching for their loved ones, including the Madres Buscadoras De Sonora, a group of mothers in the state who are searching for their missing children.

Activist Ceci Flores, a longtime leader of that group, recently found the remains of one of her sons who went missing in 2019. She wants to see more initiatives like this one to keep her cause in the spotlight.

“This is a commemoration for all the mothers who have been left with empty arms,” Flores said. She wants to see more initiatives like this one to keep her cause in the spotlight.

Rates of disappearances related to cartel violence over the past two decades have remained high in many parts of Mexico, including Sonora, the state south of Arizona. Searchers like Flores have long called on the government to do more to help find the missing.

Hermosillo Mayor Antonio Astiazarán said the plaza inaugurated on International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances becomes the first public space in Mexico dedicated to searching mothers.

“That fills us with pride,” Astiazarán said. “Because your struggle is our struggle.”