prolog
Chapter 1: The Lost Daughter
Chapter 2 Two Histories
Chapter 3: The Age of Cartels
Chapter 4: Violence Becomes Power
Chapter 5: The Disappeared
Chapter 6: The Cursed Family
Chapter 7 Target List
Chapter 8: Solidarity
Chapter 9 What's Left Behind
Chapter 10 Guns and Bones
Chapter 11 Mother's Day
Chapter 12: An Unexpected Legacy
Chapter 13 Conclusion
Epilogue

Acknowledgements
main
References

“How can this happen?
“What on earth is the government doing?”

From inter-cartel wars to civilian massacres and kidnappings for ransom.
Violence beyond state control is increasingly directed downward.

Drug cartels grew under the aegis of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for over 70 years from 1929 to 2000.
The Gulf Cartel dominated Mexico's smuggling industry for a century, beginning in the 1920s when Prohibition was implemented in the United States, and in the process developed extensive ties with police, prosecutors, customs officials, and even PRI politicians.
The Gulf Cartel took them on as partners, providing them with bribes and benefits, in return securing a stable supply chain and virtual immunity.
The problem arose as the power structure changed in the late 1990s.
The collapse of the one-party dictatorship of the Institutional Revolutionary Party created a power vacuum, which was filled by drug cartels.
The government has lost control over organized crime.

As competition between drug cartels intensified, bloodshed broke out in various places.
The Mexican government declared a "war on drugs" in 2006, but it was not enough to quell the chaos.
Repeated armed conflicts between the military and cartels have left innocent civilians harmed.
The Gulf Cartel created the Zetas paramilitary group to expand its territory, leaving its members free to do whatever it took to make money.
The Setas organization members collected rent from market vendors and carried out kidnappings for ransom.
To make matters worse, in 2010, the Zetas, who had split from the Gulf Cartel, took control of San Fernando, terrorizing the local population.
The Zetas suspected that there were remnants of the Gulf Cartel in San Fernando and did not hesitate to carry out mass killings.

The number of people missing due to the violence of Mexican cartels reaches 100,000.
Drawing on extensive research, the author meticulously depicts how Mexico's authorities gradually lose control and the drug cartels' violence increasingly targets ordinary people like Miriam's family.
The sight of a cartel leader who has become a social giant escaping criminal charges despite clear evidence, the repeated promises of truth-finding and rigorous investigations whenever civilian massacres or mass disappearances occur, and the hasty policies that only exacerbate the damage may feel familiar to Korean readers.
This is why the sentence in the epilogue, “Every action was a display of violence, every tragedy foreshadowed the next tragedy,” feels like a chilling warning.

“The pain of losing a loved one
Anyone who knows the meaning
“Only those who have experienced that pain.”

Miriam Rodriguez's Life: From Revenge to Solidarity
About the courage to never yield in the face of violence that has become power.

The driving force that enabled Miriam to pour everything she had into tracking down the kidnapper was, of course, revenge.
However, Miriam gradually began to devote her efforts to helping other families of missing persons victims.
Although Mexican federal law provides several support measures for crime victims, most families of missing persons victims were unaware of the existence of the relevant laws.
Miriam, on the other hand, knew very well how to navigate Mexican bureaucracy to secure her rights as a victim's family member.
Miriam has worked with people from all over Tamaulipas state who have heard rumors and have come to visit, founded an organization for families of missing victims, and organized a DNA testing task force within the investigative authorities to pressure the government to identify remains recovered from mass graves.

The author also shares the stories of other missing persons victims' families who have suffered similar hardships to Miriam's.
In the process, the irresponsibility and incompetence of the investigative authorities are highlighted as much as the cartel's brutality.
The families of missing persons were often refused even reports at the police station.
The most moving passage in the book is when Miriam decides to help the family of a low-ranking member of the Cetas organization killed by the Marines receive government support as a missing person.
This decision marks the moment when Miriam recognizes that the government authorities are also complicit in the horrific violence, and it becomes a turning point in her transition from unwavering revenge to social solidarity.
Miriam's tracker may be open to criticism, but no one can easily disparage her entire life.

“She wanted to involve as many victims’ families as she could in the organization.
I used to convince people that while individual people are likely to be ignored, if they organize into a group, things will change.
He argued that the way to find his beloved family was in the documents, so he had to document the incident and file a complaint.
He told me to spread the word through people around me, such as friends, family, and neighbors.
If you don't have a cell phone, write down the phone number of an acquaintance on the list.
“As the number of members of victims’ families’ groups grows, personal tragedies become social crises, and he argued that fostering a sense of crisis is the only way to spur government action.” _Page 221