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Enforced disappearance is a reality throughout the world, and in Latin America it has become increasingly widespread in authoritarian countries. This practice violates fundamental human rights and constitutes a crime under international law.
Although historically associated with military dictatorships, today enforced disappearance occurs in different contexts, especially as a method of political or social repression. It not only directly affects the disappeared person, but also generates fear and mistrust in their families and communities, reflecting serious flaws in the judicial system and in the protection of rights.
What is enforced disappearance?
According to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, enforced disappearance occurs when the State or its agents arrest or detain a person and then refuse to acknowledge it or reveal their whereabouts.
This denial prevents the victim from receiving legal protection, which makes the act a multiple violation of rights: to life, liberty, integrity, and truth.
Disappearance as a political tool
In authoritarian regimes, forced disappearance is not a mistake: it is a policy of social control. Fear becomes a message. Each person who disappears serves as a warning to others who think differently or dare to denounce abuses.
The patterns are repeated: arbitrary detentions, no communication, denial of whereabouts, and a judicial system that turns a blind eye. The aim is not only to silence a victim, but to discipline an entire society.
Venezuela: institutionalized opacity
In Venezuela, enforced disappearance is no longer an exceptional practice but has become part of political repression.
According to Amnesty International, between July 2024 and May 2025, at least 15 people have been forcibly disappeared, most of them after protests or electoral processes. The victims are opposition figures, journalists, and human rights defenders.
Organizations such as Provea and Foro Penal have documented a pattern: arrests carried out by security forces such as SEBIN or DGCIM, followed by days or weeks without official information. The courts do not recognize the arrests and the Public Ministry ignores habeas corpus appeals.
Amnesty warns that these disappearances “have become institutionalized as a practice of the Venezuelan State,” in a system where impunity is part of the design.
Nicaragua: silence after the outcry
Since the 2018 protests, more than 120 people remain missing in Nicaragua, according to the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances.
The victims are students, activists, peasants, and indigenous leaders who opposed the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo. Many were last seen in the hands of the National Police or paramilitary groups.
The UN has stated that these disappearances “appear to be ordered from the highest levels of the State” and that the Nicaraguan government refuses to cooperate with international investigations.
Fear is now part of everyday life: families who do not report incidents out of fear, exiled journalists, and communities that are learning to live with silence as their only form of protection.
Cuba: disappearances within confinement
In Cuba, forced disappearances are usually short-lived, but no less serious. Activists and journalists are detained without a warrant and held incommunicado for hours or days, with no official record of their arrest.
These practices are particularly common against the “Damas de Blanco” and 11J protesters, who are arrested and transferred to isolation cells without their families or lawyers being able to access them.
Organizations such as Cubalex and the Instituto sobre Raza, Igualdad y Derechos Humanos have documented these cases and reported to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances that some detainees remain incommunicado for up to 72 hours without official record.
Although the Cuban Constitution prohibits forced disappearances, international organizations warn that the Ministry of the Interior uses incommunicado detention and denial of whereabouts as a form of political punishment.
What to do in the event of an enforced disappearance?
When a person disappears, time becomes the enemy. The first few hours are crucial for tracking down their whereabouts, but in contexts where the state is part of the problem, families face a wall of silence.
The first thing to do is to document every detail: the time, the place, the circumstances, and the names of those who may be responsible. That information, however minimal it may seem, may become the only evidence in the face of official denial.
Complaints should be filed with national prosecutors and human rights organizations, even when there is no immediate response. Families can also file habeas corpus petitions and appeal to international bodies, such as the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), which receives urgent complaints without the need to exhaust domestic legal remedies. In many cases, local and international organizations (such as Amnesty International, Provea, or Cubalex, depending on the country) help channel complaints and accompany the process.
But beyond legal mechanisms, searching for a missing person is a collective act. Family members come together, create networks, organize vigils, and share information when the state remains silent. Public pressure, media visibility, and civil society support are tools for breaking impunity.
What to do on social media?
In contexts where the media is not independent or institutions deny the facts, social media becomes a vital tool for raising awareness of enforced disappearances. Publishing, documenting, and amplifying cases can generate pressure, activate solidarity networks, and keep the search alive. But it also involves risks: family members and activists must take care of digital security, verify information before disseminating it, and avoid exposing sensitive data that could compromise the victims.
An effective social media campaign requires strategy:
- It is important to centralize information in verified accounts or reliable organizations, use consistent hashtags, and maintain a respectful tone.
- Post consistently, not just when there is news, to help keep the case in the public eye.
- Using unified hashtags makes it easier to follow and allows posts to be visible outside the immediate circle of support (e.g., #WhereIsxxx, #JusticeForxxx, #UntilWeFindYou).
- It is also key to build a digital community: share graphic materials with verified data on the case, raise awareness about who is being sought, and amplify the voices of family members.
Every purposeful post, retweet, story, or reel can break through the information blockade. In this era of noise, social media has become a space for documentation, reporting, and memory. Thus, when the disappeared are rendered invisible by the systems of power, the digital narrative becomes a form of resistance.
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