More than 3,000 secret graves containing almost 5,000 bodies have been found since 2006, the national search commissioner said today.

Speaking at the presidential press conference, Karla Quintana Osuna gave the precise figures: 4,874 bodies in 3,024 graves.

“. . . It’s the first time that . . . the federal government has officially recognized the number of clandestine graves [that have been found] . . .” Quintana said.

She said the highest numbers of bodies have been found in Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas.

In the nine months since the new government took office, 522 secret graves and 671 bodies have been found, the commissioner said.

Quintana said that 200 bodies have been identified in the same period, adding that the government will do all it can to support people trying to locate their missing family members.

“We reiterate our respect for the families who have been looking for their missing loved ones for a long time. It’s an obligation of the state to search for them,” she said.

The commissioner pointed out that 25 state-based search commissions have been established, while those for Sonora, Baja California Sur, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes and Chiapas are in the process of being created.

The government will provide 123 million pesos (US $6.1 million) in funding next month to assist the commissions in their search and identification efforts, Quintana said.

She added that a 90-million-peso center for human identification will be built in Coahuila and three forensic cemeteries will be established for the burial of unclaimed bodies. Two will be located in Zacatecas and the third will be in Durango.

Source: Reforma (sp)