Raul Servin, whose son disappeared eight years prior, inspects an area where the Guerreros Buscadores group of serarchers suspects bodies may be buried, in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, on the outskirts of Guadalajara, Mexico, Tuesday, March 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eduardo Verdugo)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-04-15T05:01:08Z<\/p>\n
GUADALAJARA, M\u00e9xico (AP) \u2014 For hours under the blistering sun, Ra\u00fal Serv\u00edn shovels and digs his way through days filled with pain, hope and usually frustration. He is looking for his son, gone eight years now \u2014 and for \u201c all the other missing people<\/a><\/span> ” in Mexico as well. <\/p>\n Every Tuesday, Serv\u00edn loads a van with picks, shovels, water and lunches. He commends himself to God. He picks up his three teammates for the day. Then they venture forth into areas where the ground beneath their feet may sometimes hide the bodies of the missing \u2014 the victims of foul play in a Mexican state rife with drug cartel violence.<\/p>\n They call themselves the Guerreros Buscadores \u2014 the \u201cSearching Warriors.\u201d There is much to search for, and dozens of groups like theirs do: More than 130,000 people have been reported missing since 2006, according to official records.<\/p>\n Balancing the search efforts with daily obligations is not easy. Serv\u00edn lost his job when he started looking for his missing son. Now he works as a waiter on weekends.<\/p>\n But the most difficult parts also offer ways forward \u2014 news that arrives via a skull, a mutilated body, evidence of closure in many respects of the word. There is even joy now and then \u2014 even if it comes from a pit. <\/p>\n On those difficult days, Serv\u00edn, 54, comes to grips with a jarring fact: Sometimes, in the end, the worst-case scenario can become the best possible outcome. <\/p>\n Serv\u00edn\u2019s life is filled with mixed-feeling moments not easy to witness. On a recent day, these Guerreros agreed to be shadowed by an Associated Press photojournalist to see what they do \u2014 and why it matters. They set out to cover several locations on the outskirts of Guadalajara, the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco and a World Cup host city<\/a><\/span>. <\/p>\n Serv\u00edn and the women go alone, unaccompanied by any protection. The only semblance of an authority is a \u201cpanic button\u201d held by Serv\u00edn that connects to a federal network to protect rights activists.<\/p>\n It is perilous work in a perilous environment. Mexico is neither at war nor under a military dictatorship, yet thousands of people disappear every year amid cartel violence. Clandestine graves are discovered on a semiregular basis; more than 70,000 unidentified remains have piled up in morgues and cemeteries.<\/p>\nSearching, waiting, hoping<\/h2>\n