A year before our trip, Mike had worked with Natalia Reyes, activists and feminist, producing maps on femicides in Veracruz, Baja California, and Sinaloa. When Mike told her about our trip, Natalia suggested a conversation to discuss the possibility of using visual tools, like maps, to help groups searching for their missing loved ones.

That night Natalia explained how the mothers searching for their children are not only excavating the state looking for human remains, but facing challenges in their interactions with state authorities. She told us about Eleazar Hernández, better known as “Rayito” who went missing in Jalisco after traveling from Culiacán to be a judge in a dance competition. Even though Rayito’s mom had submitted DNA samples in Jalisco and Sinaloa, Rayito’s body remained at the coroner’s office for months before being identified. Because of the work of mothers searching for their loved ones in both states, Rayito was able to return home and not end up buried in a common grave.

Natalia cautioned us that our conversation with Isabel Cruz, founder of the Sabuesos Guerreras group,would not be easy. Battles with those who should protect citizens have also fostered distrust. The next morning, Natalia, Mike and I visited Isabel’s home, which also functions as Sabuesos Guerreras headquarters. One of the first things we noticed, were the paper maps hung on the walls that with thumb tacks of different colors identifying places where they had searched. While showcasing their fight, the maps also brought to the fore the fragility and precarity of their work.

One day we will ask Isabel what she saw in us. La jefa, as Isabel is known, shared with us how other researchers had requested her “data”, but she had declined. After all, the manila folders were not only files but evidence of the lives of their children. Mike and I left that meeting full of ideas, but also aware of our responsibility of acknowledging the limits of what we could do.