Regardless of the controversy surrounding the star of the multi-Oscar-nominated movie Emilia Pérez, the film brought mainstream attention to the ongoing issue of Mexico’s clandestine graves. During a June 17, 1971, press conference, President Nixon first coined the term “War on Drugs,” and the Global War on Drugs has continued ever since. In 2006, the Mexican military intervened in the country’s ongoing drug-related violence, igniting the Mexican War on Drugs. According to the Mexican government, their continued efforts align with the Global War on Drugs to dismantle Mexican drug cartels, prevent drug trafficking, and minimize domestic violence.

However, there has been little documented benefit from any government efforts in the War on Drugs. What has been abundantly clear in Mexico is that thousands of people go missing each year due to the War on Drugs. As of late 2024, nearly 120,000 people in Mexico have been reported missing, with the majority suspected to be buried in secret graves throughout the country. In the Emilia Pérez film, two of the lead characters dedicate themselves to locating these lost graves to bring closure to the families of the victims.

The film highlights the devastation these families feel over not knowing what has happened to their loved ones and the role women are playing in working to bring closure to these families. What the film misses, however, is how technology like drones is helping to identify these mass graves. In 2023, Project FOUND was launched in Jalisco, the Mexican state with the highest reported number of missing individuals. The goal of FOUND is to locate as many clandestine graves as possible, ending the torture of the unknown for families. Initially, the project was run by women—mothers, aunts, sisters, and wives of the missing—who manually searched for graves.

Now, Project FOUND is receiving assistance from a team of scientists from Mexico City’s CentroGeo, a public geospatial research institution. Dr. José Luis Silván Cárdenas, a professor from CentroGeo who specializes in using drones for geospatial monitoring, has been working with the women of FOUND to locate hidden graves. He, along with a team of specialists, trains the women to operate drones equipped with multispectral cameras. These cameras can detect colors that are invisible to the human eye, triggered by elevations in nitrogen and chlorophyll in vegetation.

When the drone’s camera picks up higher-than-normal chemical levels, it signals an anomaly—such as a decomposing body—that is affecting the surrounding vegetation. To train the women on how to use and interpret the information provided by the drones, CentroGeo has built several test fields to simulate clandestine grave sites. Each field is enclosed within a fence and contains 16 graves interspersed among natural vegetation. Carcasses of pigs, which have died of natural causes, are donated to the project to replicate the effect of a human body buried in the graves. The carcasses are prepared similarly to how a victim’s body would be—exposed to extreme heat, dismemberment, and wrapped in plastic tarps before being buried.

Using the drones, volunteers learn how to recognize the chemical signatures left by the carcasses. The drone searches have led to the discovery of many graves, but FOUND knows they still have a long road ahead of them. What scientists and FOUND volunteers have discovered is that these mass graves cause vegetation—particularly flowers—to grow in places where they normally wouldn’t survive. The organization finds it almost symbolic that, from death, grows the beauty of flowers.

When you visit their website, the homepage features a mother cradling a child, with the child completely covered in a blanket of flowers that spreads over the mother. Accompanying the image is a quote by Guerreros Buscadores, one of FOUND’s volunteer members: “I found my son in the flowers.” This sentiment conveys hope that, through the devastation of losing a loved one, new life can emerge. The implementation of drone technology is helping to foster that hope and bring closure to countless families throughout Mexico.

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