Desperate relatives denounce forced disappearances in Jalisco

Relatives of the disappeared demand justice at a demonstration in Guadalajara.

Antonio Reynoso was last seen alive when masked police officers dragged him out of a children’s birthday party in front of his six-year-old daughter.

His mother, Mayra Hernandez, arrived just in time to witness him being violently hauled into one of seven police cars with obscured license plates that had pulled up outside.

“They say they didn’t take him away, but I saw it. They were beating him. He was handcuffed and bleeding,” Hernandez told Al Jazeera.

Jalisco state police officers arrested four en accused of stealing cars, she said, but only three were later charged. Reynoso disappeared without a trace.

That incident took place in Guadalajara, capital of western Jalisco state, on August 30, 2013.

Two years on, Reynoso, an unemployed 23-year-old who harboured dreams of becoming a chef, has become just another statistic in a state where forced disappearances have grown increasingly common.

Maria Vazquez has searched tirelessly for her daughter since she went missing last November.

According to the Mexican government, federal and local registers, 26,029 people were missing across the country as of April 30.

Jalisco officially accounted for 2,160 of these disappearances, but analysts say the actual figure is likely much higher…

Click here to read this feature in full at Al Jazeera English.