According to figures from the Public Ministry (MP), Between January 1, 2020 and March 23, 2025 5 thousand 356 disappearances of adult men have been reported. Only in the first three months of this year, at least 228 cases are counted.
Unlike what happens with women, children and adolescents, Guatemalan legislation does not contemplate any search alert Specific for missing men once they reach the age of majority.
Both the MP records and those of the PNC show a sustained increase in the last five years of disappearances of men.
In 2020, 760 cases of men of legal age were documented. In 2021, the figure amounted to 1,085, while in 2022 1,122 cases were recorded. By 2023, 988 complaints were received and in 2024 the number grew again, reaching the thousand 173 cases.
Since May 4, 2024, the PNC is obliged to act under the Protocol for police action in the case of missing men, established by resolution number 96-2024. However, search actions are mainly concentrated in seals, where the identity of citizens is verified.
According to the General Directorate of the PNC, Every year 2,964 people disappear on average. Of that total, 66% correspond to women and 44% to men, regardless of their age.
Recent case
More than a thousand men are reported missing every year; Pablo Méndez Vega, is one of them.
Méndez Vega, 33, went out to show a vehicle that was for sale to zone 11 on Tuesday, May 28; However, until yesterday there was no trace of him or the vehicle.
The disappearance of Méndez Vega already denounced the police, which activated the protocol and the family through social networks has circulated the information, to try to locate it.