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Investigative Failures
Failure by Authorities to Intervene During and Immediately Following
Abductions
In several cases, victims’ families told Human Rights Watch that they sought help from
authorities when someone was taken against their will or immediately afterwards, a period
critical to obtaining information on the fate of victim, preventing murder, and finding those
responsible. In each case, however, authorities either did not respond or turned them away.
For example, on the afternoon of October 26, 2008, approximately five unmarked SUVs
blocked off the street where the Vega family lived, Dania Vega (pseudonym) told Human
Rights Watch. 84 Masked men armed with large weapons emerged from the cars and forced
their way into the home, abducting Dania’s husband and father, ages 33 and 59
respectively. Vega hid in the bathroom with her children and dialed 066—the telephone
number used to report emergencies, such as fires and robberies, to authorities—to report
the abduction in progress. She explained what was happening as the armed men went
from room to room, going through the family’s belongings. When she finished explaining
what was happening, the official on the line told her, “If they are already there, we cannot
do anything for you.” 85
As soon as the armed men had left the home, Vega ran toward the center of Matamoros,
which was only a few blocks away, and came across a municipal police car. She told the
officers that her husband and father had just been abducted, described the SUVs that had
just taken them, and asked the police to pursue the vehicles. The officers responded that
they were not responsible for what happened in that part of the town and could not leave
the location where they had been posted. She said the officers did not even report the
crime to other units over their radios. 86
84 Human Rights Watch interview with Dania Vega (pseudonym), Torreón, Coahuila, April 24, 2012. The identity of the
individual has been withheld out of concern for her safety.
85 Ibid.
86 The victims’ family filed a formal complaint before the Coahuila State Prosecutor’s Office in October 2008, a copy of which
is on file with Human Rights Watch, for the disappearances. While the prosecutor’s office formally opened an investigation,
no progress was made in finding the victims or those responsible. The date and number of the formal complaint and
subsequent investigation have not been recorded here at the request of the family, to maintain their anonymity,
MEXICO’S DISAPPEARED 34