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About the PhotographerMagnum photographer Yael Martínez has been documenting fractured communities in his native Mexico. He focuses on the consequences of the many missing persons on their families. He is based in Guerrero, Mexico. |
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It was getting dark when I got the call. Luz, my wife, was telling me that they had killed her brother Beto. She was uncontrollable — I had never heard her speak like that. Her voice was shaking, breaking. I could not sleep all night. “Beto was killed, hanged,” resonated in my head, “he was beaten, burned, but they told us that he committed suicide.” Her other brothers, David and Nacho, had been missing for over 3 months.
After these events in 2013, I began to document my family and the families of other missing people, in order to capture the psychological and emotional breakdown caused by the loss of family members, especially for parents, children, and siblings.
Across Mexico, more than 37,400 people have been categorized as ‘missing’ by official sources. The vast majority of those are believed to be dead—victims of ongoing violence that has claimed more than 250,000 lives since 2006. These disappearances are the source of lasting psychological trauma for families left behind.
The violence has its roots in the war on Mexico’s powerful drugs cartels instigated by President Calderón and continued by his successor, Peña Nieto. The ensuing violence has led to a catastrophic rise in murder rates and in the number of unsolved disappearances, which is aided by corruption and impunity.
Guerrero and Sinaloa are two major Mexican states that are amongst the most affected by violence. The crisis of the rule of law is increasingly alarming and enforced disappearances are just one of the many symptoms that shows it.
These photos talk about mourning and finding peace in a violent land.
After these events in 2013, I began to document my family and the families of other missing people, in order to capture the psychological and emotional breakdown caused by the loss of family members, especially for parents, children, and siblings.
Across Mexico, more than 37,400 people have been categorized as ‘missing’ by official sources. The vast majority of those are believed to be dead—victims of ongoing violence that has claimed more than 250,000 lives since 2006. These disappearances are the source of lasting psychological trauma for families left behind.
The violence has its roots in the war on Mexico’s powerful drugs cartels instigated by President Calderón and continued by his successor, Peña Nieto. The ensuing violence has led to a catastrophic rise in murder rates and in the number of unsolved disappearances, which is aided by corruption and impunity.
Guerrero and Sinaloa are two major Mexican states that are amongst the most affected by violence. The crisis of the rule of law is increasingly alarming and enforced disappearances are just one of the many symptoms that shows it.
These photos talk about mourning and finding peace in a violent land.
Self-portrait of the photographer, Yael Martínez, 2018. © Yael Martinez / Magnum Photos
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