The discovery of bones on Tuesday awaits DNA confirmation, but Ceci Flores is sure she has finally found one of her missing sons based on clothing found at the site.

“I’m convinced that I found my son,” she said. “I thank the authorities who made it possible and the people who never abandoned me.” 

Flores, the founder of the search collective Madres Buscadoras de Sonora in 2019, has become one of the most recognizable faces in the struggle of families of the disappeared in Mexico.

She has been involved in the struggle since 2015 when her son, Alejandro Guadalupe, then 21, disappeared on his way to work in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. 

Four years later, her sons Marco Antonio, 32 at the time, and Jesús Adrián, who was 15, went missing, abducted by an armed group in Sonora along with another brother. Soon thereafter, the kidnappers contacted Flores to indicate a meeting point where they released Jesús Adrián. Marco Antonio was never seen again.

The discovery of what are believed to be bone fragments belonging to Marco Antonio was made alongside Highway 26 near Hermosillo, Sonora, in an area where search collectives had reported the presence of clandestine graves.

The remains were scattered over a large area and did not comprise a complete body. The evidence was secured and transferred to laboratories for specialized analysis to determine the identity.

In a social media post, Flores expressed fatigue and gratitude that she found one of her sons: 

“After fighting against everything, against oblivion, against apathy, against the hard, dry land scorched by the sun that was always there, leaving part of our blood and skin behind, crying to wipe away the dust that blinded us, because there was no time, because I believed that with every step I would find you alive, that I would arrive in time to protect you, to hold you and give you the most beautiful kisses that only a mother knows how to give.” 

For the past seven years, Flores has led searches in clandestine graves, in remote desert spaces and rural areas across the state of Sonora as well as in other regions of the country. 

Flores’ group has reported recovering more than 2,700 bodies and reuniting 2,400 living people with their families. This despite receiving threats from criminal groups (Flores has publicly accused organized crime gangs of being behind the disappearance of her sons) as well as violent attacks (in September 2023, the group was shot at while performing a search in Guaymas, Sonora).

With reports from El País, La Jornada, El Financiero, Aristegui Noticias and El Imparcial