Ex-Ministerial Police Officer Faces Trial in Disappearance of Two Young People in Cancun

Cancun, Quintana Roo — A former ministerial police officer will face a judge Friday night in a trial over the disappearance of two young people who vanished after leaving a nightclub in Cancun more than six years ago.

José Luis Fonseca, arrested in 2024, is accused of involvement in the disappearance of Diana García Rivera and Jorge Armando Kiau, last seen on February 22, 2020, after leaving the Imperio nightclub at Plaza Infinity on Avenida Nichupté.

Romana Rivera, García’s mother and leader of the activist group “Truth, Memory and Justice,” said a judge will determine the legal status of the defendant during the trial hearing. Rivera and other activists held a protest outside the Oral Criminal Courts on Avenida Nichupté to draw attention to the case.

Rivera said that two people have been detained in connection with the disappearances. Fonseca, a former agent of the Quintana Roo Ministerial Police, was located in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, where he had taken refuge after authorities began searching for him.

Six years and four months after the disappearances, Rivera said her children have not been found and the case remains mired in what she called “total impunity.” She accused authorities of negligence, omission, and delays in the investigation.

Rivera said the family’s only hope is that the trial will be conducted impartially and result in a conviction. “Let this trial be carried out with the best legality, with impartiality on the part of the judge, so that the verdict is a conviction against this person,” she said.