Mexican president pledges stronger missing persons efforts after mass grave found

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday she is signing a decree to strengthen the commission responsible for helping to search for missing persons and will send further reforms to Congress, following the discovery of a mass grave last week.

Mexico has over 124,000 missing people, according to government data, largely a result of drug cartel violence.

Murdered people are often buried in clandestine - sometimes mass - graves. Authorities lack the resources to bring answers to the families of missing people.

Civilian activists found a mass grave last week in a ranch in Teuchitlan, Jalisco state, with ashes, bones and hundreds of items of clothing that are still being checked by authorities, along with ovens possibly used to cremate bodies.

The discovery spurred a national outcry. Protests and vigils took place on Saturday afternoon across the country to demand more official actions.

Sheinbaum said she will send a reform to Congress on Thursday that would make it easier to identify missing persons, organize information about them and their cases, and make numbers of missing people more transparent.

She also said it would no longer be necessary to wait 72 hours to start investigating a disappearance and there would be a clear distinction between kidnappings and missing persons cases.

"We're working with three government entities, which is fundamental to avoid impunity," she said. "It's very important that families report disappearances...and it's our obligation to provide support (for the families)."

Sheinbaum said officials would provide information about the investigation into the Jalisco case on Wednesday. Authorities have not given an estimate of how many bodies were in the grave.

Last week, the state prosecutor's office said it had set up a online platform detailing nearly 600 items recovered at the ranch in western Mexico that may have been a base to burn bodies and bury the remains.

The items include suitcases, backpacks and pieces of clothing. The platform is public, allowing people to identify them.

Tests are also being carried out on hundreds of items of clothing, bullet casings of various calibers and skeleton fragments.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez)