Family members of people who have been kidnapped in Baja California staged a sit-in at state government buildings in Tijuana and Mexicali on Friday. As KPBS reporter Amy Isackson explains, they’re fed up with how slowly the government is moving to create a special unit to investigate kidnappings.
A handful of people who gathered outside the state government’s headquarters in Tijuana say officials promised five weeks ago they’d name a special prosecutor to investigate kidnappings.
Their missing loved ones stared out from photos hung on the government building’s front wall.
Cristina Palacio’s son was kidnapped in the mid-1990’s when they were driving together in Tijuana. At the time, U.S. prosecutors were courting him as a witness in cases against Tijuana’s Arellano Felix drug cartel and his own brother who prosecutors allege was involved.
Palacio : I don't think he’s alive, but I cannot have peace in my heart and my soul until I know what happened to my son.
People at the sit-in say so no matter what circumstances surround a kidnapping, families have the right to know what happened.
Baja California authorities were not available to comment.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.