Around 1,600 suspected baby teeth have reportedly been found at a mass grave in Mexico, in a discovery that has sparked demands for answers from authorities.
The tiny teeth were allegedly uncovered alongside burned pieces of bone at a ranch near Zacapu, in the western state of Michoacán. The find comes as Mexico battles a huge missing-persons crisis, with more than 130,000 people registered as missing across the country.
Volunteer search group makes grim find
Families desperate for answers have formed their own search groups, with relatives travelling across the country looking for those who have vanished. It was during one of these searches that Margarita López, who founded the volunteer group Buscando Cuerpos en Todo México, came across the site in Zacapu.
She said she spotted smoke rising above the surrounding mountains while searching for missing people in 2021. Her group followed it to a private ranch, where they allegedly discovered a makeshift crematorium beneath avocado trees.
Evidence of burning and bone fragments
Ms López claims the ground was still extremely hot and appeared to have been used to burn remains shortly before they arrived. Searchers began carefully going through the scorched earth and reportedly found pieces that appeared to be human bone, including vertebrae and kneecaps. But they also started finding tiny teeth.
The group began using extremely fine sieves to search through the soil, with more teeth reportedly uncovered as their work continued. Ms López claims around 1,600 suspected children's teeth have now been recovered during searches carried out between 2021 and September 22 this year.
Fears over children's remains
She fears the remains could belong to more than 80 children. However, this has not yet been confirmed, and experts have not established how many people the teeth came from or their ages. It has also not yet been confirmed through testing that all of the remains found at the site are human.
Ms López said: “Most likely, these children were victims of sexual exploitation, organ trafficking, or child pornography. I ask those who stigmatize the disappeared, what crime did these more than 80 children commit?”
Appeal for official investigation
Ms López claims the remains collected by her group have been handed to Mexico's Attorney General's Office, known as the FGR, for testing and DNA analysis. However, officials said on Thursday that they had no record of receiving a complaint or request for forensic work over the alleged discovery.
The claims have now sparked demands for answers from authorities in Michoacán. Senator Laura Esquivel Torres said: “In Zacapu, Michoacán, mothers searching for their missing children report finding a clandestine grave with more than 1,600 baby teeth. If this news isn’t enough to ignite our consciences, it’s not just these children being buried, but our hearts as well.”
Ms López knows the pain of having a missing loved one herself. Her daughter disappeared in 2011 and her remains were found two years later in another part of Mexico.
