Coparmex urges search for priest and all Sinaloa missing

Reporting and context

Coparmex called for an immediate search for Catholic priest Clemente Morales Topete, missing in Culiacán since October 24, and demanded the same urgency for every missing person in Sinaloa, according to Revista Espejo.

The business organization’s Sinaloa branch issued its statement on October 26. Citing information from the Diocese of Culiacán, the statement said Morales Topete was last seen around 4 p.m. after a medical appointment in the Montebello neighborhood. It urged authorities to coordinate their efforts and use all available resources to find him alive.

Revista Espejo reported that Coparmex also called for missing-person investigation files to be reviewed, reopened where appropriate and followed up effectively. The organization rejected different treatment based on a person’s profession, public profile or the media attention surrounding a disappearance.

The statement placed the priest’s case within Sinaloa’s wider disappearance crisis. It cited 4,525 people deprived of their liberty between September 9, 2024, and October 24, 2026, an average of 5.8 cases a day. Those are figures cited by Coparmex for that period, rather than a count of people still missing. Espejo linked the worsening crisis to the Sinaloa Cartel’s internal war, which began in September 2024.

Coparmex thanked residents who had circulated the priest’s search notice and urged the public and media to keep sharing official notices and useful information. It also demanded regular communication with families and sustained attention to investigations, including cases in which relatives have waited months or years for answers.

Source: Revista Espejo, including the reproduced Coparmex Sinaloa statement.