Dozens of family members of missing persons gathered Sunday, June 15, on Mexico City's Paseo de la Reforma to play soccer in the central green median, a direct action aimed at bringing visibility to 133,000 people reported as disappeared or missing according to Mexico's National Registry of Disappeared and Missing Persons. The timing capitalizes on the global media attention surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Mexico's missing persons crisis has grown dire. The 133,000 cases documented in the registry concentrate heavily in states including Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Sinaloa, and Nuevo León, with numbers peaking between 2018 and 2023. Search collectives have strategically intensified their public visibility during the World Cup, using high-traffic venues like the Azteca Stadium and Paseo de la Reforma to capture international media coverage during tournament weeks.

The match was organized by collectives including Jesús García, father of Reyna Karina San Román, who disappeared in 2012, and Martha Miranda, another organizer who described the action as transforming grief into a language the world can see. Participants distributed flyers with photographs of missing persons to pedestrians and tourists. Police maintained a security perimeter while allowing vehicle traffic to flow through lateral lanes.

The effort reflects a broader strategy by search collectives to merge their missing persons agenda with the World Cup's massive platform. Throughout the tournament, family organizations plan activities at fan zones across Mexican cities to sustain media coverage in domestic and international outlets, where the presence of foreign correspondents amplifies their message globally.

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This article was written with AI assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.