Spain: Every day 60 people disappear

As Spain remembers its Day of the Disappeared, a poignant statistic reveals that every day sixty individuals vanish without a trace.

This staggering fact becomes ever more relevant every March 9 as Spain commemorates the National Day of Persons Missing Without Apparent Cause, a remembrance initiated following Cristina Bergua’s vanishing in 1997.

Cristina disappeared on March 9, 1997, at the age of 16, after leaving her home in Cornella de Llobregat, Barcelona.

Her last sighting was on the Carretera de Esplugues, accompanied by her boyfriend. Despite an anonymous tip-off claiming her body was in the city landfill, no evidence was ever found. The case, which reopened in a decade later remains largely cold.

The mystery of the disappeared

Spain grapples with over 20,000 cases of disappearance reported each year, despite the resolution of the majority of these cases, 10 per cent remain unresolved, casting a long shadow over thousands of families.

Cristina’s case, still unsolved after 27 years, symbolises a significant moment in Spain’s handling of such disappearances, underscoring the pain of over 5,000 families still seeking closure.

Categories of disappearance

Disappearances are classified into involuntary, where individuals vanish under circumstances beyond their control; voluntary, motivated by personal reasons; and forced, often involving criminal activity.

The distinction is crucial for families and authorities in understanding the varied nature of these incidents and in formulating appropriate responses.

The grief of waiting

Families of the missing navigate a tortuous path of grief, beginning with the legal declaration of absence, crucial for managing the missing person’s assets. Eventually, they may face the declaration of death, allowing for inheritance proceedings to commence.

This step, considered by Cristina’s parents for the benefit of her sibling, highlights the complex interplay of hope, loss, and practicality faced by those left behind.

In Spain, the quest for answers continues daily, with the memory of Cristina Bergua and many others urging a relentless search for the missing.

The establishment of the National Centre for Missing Persons in 2017 marks a significant stride towards addressing this issue, yet the heartache of uncertainty remains a constant for many.