In a troubling turn of events, two federal detectives who were investigating the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico's Guerrero state have themselves gone missing. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced on Tuesday the launch of a search effort to locate the missing detectives, who were a man and a woman.

President López Obrador expressed his hope that the detectives' disappearance was not related to those who may be trying to hinder the search for the missing students. The state of Guerrero, particularly the resort city of Acapulco, has long been plagued by a breakdown in law and order.

The case of the 43 missing students from a rural teachers' college in Guerrero in 2014 has been a glaring example of the state's lawlessness. It is believed that these students were abducted by local officials and handed over to a drug gang, who killed them. Attempts to locate the remains of the students in the rural and isolated areas of the state have only been successful in identifying burned bone fragments of three individuals.

Furthermore, tensions have escalated between President López Obrador and the families of the missing students. The families accuse the President of not doing enough to investigate their sons' fate. Last week, protesters supporting the families forcefully entered Mexico City's National Palace, where President López Obrador resides and works.

Recently, a state police officer involved in a fatal shooting of a student was detained and placed under investigation. However, the officer managed to escape from state custody before being handed over to federal prosecutors. President López Obrador criticized the security protocols and suggested that they had not been properly followed.

The situation in Guerrero has become so dire that video footage emerged on social media of drug gang enforcers brutally assaulting bus drivers in Acapulco for failing to act as lookouts for their cartel. The dominance of drug cartels in the state is a significant concern that exacerbates the already fragile law and order situation.

As the search for the missing detectives commences, authorities must confront the complex challenges of violence, corruption, and the influence of drug cartels in Guerrero. The families of the missing students, along with human rights groups, continue to demand justice and answers regarding the fate of their loved ones.