Mexican scientists are building mass graves of pigs in hopes that one day they will lead to the discovery of cartel victims

Then they look.

Pigs play an unlikely role as human proxy in research. Amazing number of people who have gone missing In Mexico, during decades of drug cartel violence.

Missing families are usually left to find loved ones with little support from authorities. But now, government scientists are offering clues that they hope to test the latest satellite, geophysical and biological mapping techniques along with pigs to lead to at least some body discoveries.

130,000 missing, count

The Mexican missing rank exploded for several years after the launch of the then-Previous Palderon war with the drug cartel president of the then Felipe Calderon.

With almost complete immunity due to the authorities’ accomplice or inaction, the cartel has found that they are better than leaving people on the streets who think they’re disappearing in their own way. Mexican regimes sometimes don’t want to recognize the issue, and sometimes they stagger at the scale of violence their judicial system is not ready to deal with.

The image of Mexico could live in a small city. Official data for 2013 tallyed a shortage of 26,000, but the count is now over 130,000. The United Nations says there are indications that the disappearance is “generalized or systematic.”

If a missing person is found – dead or alive – it is usually due to their loved one. Instructed by information from witnesses, parents and siblings, he walks through the territory of the cartel, plunges metal rods into the earth, searching for the grave by sniffing for the scent of death.

Since 2007, around 6,000 secret graves have been discovered, with new discoveries constantly being made. Tens of thousands of bodies have not been identified yet.

Testing creative solutions

Jalisco, Home to Jalisco’s new generation cartel, the maximum number of people reportedly missing in Mexico is 15,500. March, Fragments of human bones And hundreds of clothing were discovered at the state’s cartel ranch. Authorities denied it was a location A large number of graves.

José Luis Silván, coordinator of the Mapping Project, a federal laboratory mapping project focusing on geographic information and a scientist at Centrogeo, said the disappearance of Jalisco was “why we are here.”

The mapping project, launched in 2023, is a collaboration between the University of Guadalajara, National Autonomous University of Mexico and University of Oxford in the UK, along with the Jalisco Search Committee, a state agency that hosts local searches with close relatives.

“Other countries aren’t pushing that strong and not that creatively,” said Derek Congram, a Canadian forensic anthropologist.

Still, Congram warns that technology is “not a panacea.”

“90% of searches are resolved with good witnesses and bargains,” he said.

Decomposition of plants, insects, and pigs

Sylvan walks where scientists buried 14 pigs about two years ago. He says for at least three years you may not know where and how the technology can be used, when it can, or how well it works under what conditions.

“The flowers appeared because of the phosphorus on the surface. We didn’t see it last year,” he said as he took measurements at one of the cemeteries. “The searching mother says that little yellow flowers always bloom on the graves and use them as guides.”

Pigs and humans are closely related and share about 98% of their famous DNA. However, physical similarities are also important in mapping projects. According to the US National Medical Library, Pigs resemble human size, fat distribution, skin structure and thickness.

A large Columbian drone with a hyperspectral camera flies over a pig burial site. This camera, commonly used by mining companies, measures the light reflected by soil substances containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, and shows how they change as pigs break down. The colorful images it creates provide clues as to what to look for in grave hunting.

“This is not pure science,” Sylvan said. “It’s science and action. Because it’s urgency, everything you learn needs to be applied immediately, rather than waiting for it to mature.”

Researchers also employ thermal drones, laser scanners and other gadgets to register anomalies, underground movements and currents. One of the graves is wrapped behind a clear acrylic pane, providing a window for scientists to observe the pig’s decomposition in real time.

The Jalisco Committee compares and analyzes flies, beetles, plants and soils recovered from human and pig graves.

Tunuari Chávez, the committee’s director of contextual analysis, said each grave is a living “microecosystem.”

Science serving society

Triggered by the disappearance of 43 students in 2014Sylvan and his colleagues began collecting information on underground invasion radars, electrical resistivity and satellite imagery from around the world. They studied the University of Tennessee study of human corpses buried in “body farms.” They saw grave mapping techniques used in the Balkans, Colombia and Ukraine.

“If we don’t solve the problem, what is science and technology?” he said.

They learn new applications of satellite analysis and then begin their first experiment to bury the pigs, Research into substances used by criminals Dispose of the body. They found that lime is easily detected, but not hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid, and burnt meat.

Chávez’s team worked to combine science with what they knew about the behavior of cartels. For example, they determined that Jalisco’s loss of failure generally occurs along the cartel route between Pacific ports, drug manufacturing facilities and the US border, and that most of the missing persons are found in the same municipality where they disappeared.

Experts

The experiences of missing families will also be notified of research.

Some have observed that graves are often found under trees where graves grow vertically, allowing grave diggers to remain in the shade. According to Silván, mothers invited to visit one of the pig burial sites due to the arrangement of plants and soil, were able to identify most of the graves that were not marked by sight alone.

“Knowledge flows in both directions,” he said.

Maribel Cedenho, who has been searching for her missing sibling for four years, said she thinks drones and other technologies can help.

“I never imagined being in this situation, finding my body and becoming such an expert,” she said of her quest.

Héctor Flores has been looking for a son since 2021. He wonders if a lot of time and effort is invested in methods that have not led to concrete discoveries when families are proving a track record of little formal support.

Although this study has not yet been completed, the Jalisco Search Committee already uses thermal drones, laser scanners and multispectral cameras to help find missing relatives in some cases. However, it is unclear whether Mexican authorities are willing to use high-tech aides or can afford it.

Forensic scientist Congeram said researchers are aware of the limitations of technology, but “you have to keep trying, failing, failing again, try again.”