UN Calls Mexico’s Cartel-Forced Disappearances ‘Crimes Against Humanity,’ Sheinbaum’s Government Rebukes Claim

A United Nations committee published a damning decision singling out the Mexican Cartel-related “Enforced Disappearances” problem. The committee called on the UN Secretary General to request action on the matter from the General Assembly.

The Mexican government responded with a rebuke of the decision, claiming that the U.N. is overstepping its authority – a response that follows the Sheinbaum administration’s attempts to diminish and cover up its ongoing problem of cartel impunity.

In their ruling, the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) stated that they had “well-founded indications that enforced disappearances in Mexico have been and continue to be committed as crimes against humanity.” The ruling was based on Article 34 of the U.N. Convention, which intends to draw international attention and support instead of “establishing criminal responsibility.”

The term enforced disappearance points to government-sanctioned abductions where the victims are never heard from again. In their ruling, the U.N. pointed to most disappearances being carried out by criminal organizations, but in many of those, there was some level of involvement by government officials or authorities. The committee did not find a federal-level policy to carry out those disappearances, but the involvement of government officials and authorities points to crimes against humanity.

The ruling refers to the widespread infiltration of cartels at various levels of Mexico’s government. These cartels are directly responsible for a large part of the violent crime in Mexico, something that government officials have worked to deny or minimize.

This week, in an apparent response to the U.N. committee’s ruling, Mexico’s Undersecretary of Foreign Relations (SRE) Enrique Ochoa Martinez took to social media to rebuke the report and claim that the U.N. was overstepping its mandate by issuing the document without a legal basis and by improperly expanding the definition of enforced disappearances.

In his statements, Ochoa claimed that Mexico had implemented numerous international measures to work on the issue of missing persons and claimed that the ruling unfairly targeted Mexico.

The statements mirror an ongoing rhetoric pushed by Mexico’s government, where they claim to have been proactive in addressing violent crime and that they have been addressing the cartel problem. However, the reality is much different, as Breitbart Texas reported. The U.S. government has continuously criticized Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, leading to U.S. President Donald Trump mocking her at times, claiming she is afraid of cartels.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.