(NewsNation) — In 2021, Ramiro Andrade traveled from California to the Mexican state of Michoacán to visit his family. He was never seen again.

More than a year and a half later, his wife hasn’t given up the search effort.

Jenifer Flores believes cartels were responsible and faulted the Mexican government for not doing enough to help locate her husband.

“The cartels and the Mexican government are one and the same,” Flores said Friday on “CUOMO.” “They refuse to do anything to look for him, to look for any of the thousands of people that go missing every day.”

Andrade, a father of five, was traveling with his brother and cousin on a trip to help Andrade’s mother renovate her home.

The last time Flores heard from Andrade was Oct. 8, 2021, the day he went missing. He was supposed to be on his way to the airport to return home.

“If it hadn’t been for him, I don’t know where I would be right now,” Flores told NewsNation affiliate KGET at the time. “He’s my only friend, my only best friend. There’re many things that I’m not proud of in my life and meeting him he helped me turn my life around.”

The U.S. State Department currently advises people not to travel to Michoacán due to crime and kidnapping. Travel warnings exist for all but two of Mexico’s 32 states, mostly over concerns with crime, kidnapping and cartel activity.

Just last week, four Americans were kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico, and two of them were killed. Five arrests have been made.

Flores rejected any speculation or insinuation that her husband was somehow tied up with the cartels.

“There’s lots of people who go traveling and they have this idea in their head, the same as my husband, the same as me, that, ‘Oh it’s fine, it’s safe because we’re not involved in that.’ Well, we weren’t involved in anything. My husband wasn’t involved in anything, and this happened,” Flores said. “My husband traveled to fix his mom’s house and he didn’t come back.”