One year after Ana Amelí's disappearance, family marches to Angel of Independence, places memorial

A year after Ana Amelí disappeared while hiking in the Ajusco region of Mexico City, her family and support groups marched to the Angel of Independence. They placed a memorial bearing the phrase "Mexico, champion in disappearances, more than 135,000 in 2026."

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Today marks 365 days since a phone call changed my life as a mother, the life of a family. The past July 12, 2025, after seven in the evening, we realized that Amelí, a 19-year-old student, who had gone out like any young person to enjoy a hike in a beautiful place in Ajusco, did not answer the phone, did not respond to any message, only silence.

Ana Amelí, then 19, was last heard from on the evening of July 12, 2025. Her mother, Vanessa Gámez, recounted the initial silence and the growing desperation. "Today marks 365 days since a phone call changed my life as a mother, the life of a family," Gámez said. "The past July 12, 2025, after seven in the evening, we realized that Amelí... did not answer the phone, did not respond to any message, only silence."

Initially believed to be a hiking accident, the investigation took a different turn three months later. Gámez stated that the Prosecutor's Office for Disappearances and the Secretariat of Citizen Security acknowledged the presence of criminal groups and organized crime in the Ajusco area. "Only then, after her disappearance, do they decide to start an investigation like never before, but with zero results as always," she asserted, criticizing the authorities' response.

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Only then, after her disappearance, do they decide to start an investigation like never before, but with zero results as always.

During the placement of the memorial, Gámez addressed the police presence, emphasizing that their action was a reminder of the pain caused by her daughter's continued absence. "This is a reminder of all the pain you have caused us over more than 365 days without my daughter," she accused. The march and memorial serve as a powerful call for justice and a demand for answers in a case that highlights Mexico's broader crisis of missing persons.

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This is a reminder of all the pain you have caused us over more than 365 days without my daughter.