A gunman has killed an activist who led a group of volunteers searching for some of Mexico's over 100,000 missing people, prosecutors said.
The killer burst into a beauty salon Thursday in the northern border city of Mexicali and shot to death Angela Leon, who apparently ran the shop.
Leon was at least the seventh volunteer searcher killed since 2021. An eighth activist was abducted in January and has not been heard from since.
Prosecutors in the northern border state of Baja California pledged Friday to investigate the crime, which is all the more shocking because most searchers say they are not trying to put anyone in jail.
Leon was the head of the search group "Union and Strength for Our Disappeared," and had been searching since 2018 for her brother, Jose Juan Vazquez, who disappeared in Tecate that year.
The group said in a statement that "she had received threats and filed complaints, but they (authorities) did nothing!"
In January, gunmen burst into a home in the central Mexico state of Guanajuato and abducted search activist Lorenza Cano, and killed her husband and son. Cano remains missing.
Mexican drug cartels and kidnapping gangs frequently use shallow graves, vacant lots or caustic chemicals to dispose of the bodies of their victims.
The volunteer searchers often conduct their own investigations -- sometimes relying on tips from former criminals -- because the government has been unable to help.
The searchers, mostly the mothers of the disappeared, usually aren't trying to convict anyone for their relatives' abductions. They just want to find their remains.
The Mexican government has spent little on looking for the missing. Volunteers must stand in for nonexistent official search teams in the hunt for clandestine graves where cartels hide their victims. The government hasn't adequately funded or implemented a genetic database to help identify the remains found.
Victims' relatives rely on anonymous tips -- sometimes from former cartel gunmen -- to find suspected body-dumping sites. They plunge long steel rods into the earth to detect the scent of death.
If they find something, the most authorities will do is send a police and forensics team to retrieve the remains, which in most cases are never identified.
It leaves the volunteer searchers feeling caught between two hostile forces: murderous drug gangs and a government obsessed with denying the scale of the problem.
In July, a drug cartel used a fake report of a mass grave to lure police into a deadly roadside bomb attack that killed four police officers and two civilians in Jalisco state.
It is not entirely clear who is killing the searchers. Cartels have tried to intimidate searchers in the past, especially if they went to grave sites that were still being used.
Searchers have long sought to avoid the cartels' wrath by publicly pledging that they are not looking for evidence to bring the killers to justice, that they simply want their children's bodies back.
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Applause erupted over and over at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg Sunday as the son of Murray Sinclair, a former judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into residential schools, spoke about his father.
Researchers are uncovering deeper insights into how the human brain ages and what factors may be tied to healthier cognitive aging, including exercising, avoiding tobacco, speaking a second language or even playing a musical instrument.
A children's book written by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been withdrawn from sale after it was criticized for causing offense to Indigenous Australians.
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The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers association.
A government-funded report released to 麻豆影视 highlights 'systemic racism' against dozens of Black executives within the federal public service, including allegations of abuse, violence and harassment that, in some instances, led to suicide.
A man who was critically injured in a police-involved shooting in Hamilton late Sunday afternoon has died in hospital, says the province鈥檚 police watchdog.
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Nova Scotia's New Democratic Party says a candidate criticized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs for "troubling" and "damaging" social media posts is no longer running for the party in the Nov. 26 general election.
Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club has been brimming in the last 48 hours with two kinds of people: those angling for a job in the president-elect鈥檚 incoming administration, and those trying to influence him into hiring their picks for the top spots.
Much of the U.S. federal workforce is on edge and bracing itself for the likelihood its ranks will be purged when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
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Thousands of Spaniards marched in the eastern city of Valencia on Saturday to demand the resignation of the regional president in charge of the emergency response to last week's catastrophic floods that left more than 200 dead and others missing.
Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam.
Gunmen open fired in a bar in central Mexico killing 10 people and injuring seven, a local official said.
Murray Sinclair鈥檚 family members say the late justice and senator has been laid to rest according to his wishes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced voters in Cloverdale鈥擫angley City will pick their next member of Parliament on Dec. 16.
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Bitcoin on Sunday hit a new record above US$80,000. The world鈥檚 largest cryptocurrency surged in the run-up to Tuesday鈥檚 US presidential election, rose sharply immediately on election night after it became clear Donald Trump would win and has continued rising in the days since his victory.
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A Maui man who lost a part of his leg to a shark bite is now out of the hospital and thanking those who saved his life and helped him recover.
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A congestion crisis, a traffic nightmare, or unrelenting gridlock -- whatever you call it, most agree that Toronto has a congestion problem. To alleviate some of the gridlock, the Ontario government has announced it plans to remove bike lanes from three major roadways.
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Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario met in North Bay the last two days to discuss a range of critical issues impacting their cities and the region.
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Police in Newfoundland say a man was electrocuted Saturday by a downed power wire about 10 kilometres north of St. John's, N.L.
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A Memorial University scientist says the mysterious white blobs washing up on Newfoundland beaches are actually gobs of plastic -- and they need to be cleaned up.
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