The drama of the missing in Mexico, that increases between impotent victims and investigations without results, It resurfaces strongly after the finding of burned bones in a place where drug traffickers trained people allegedly recruited by force.
The remains were found on March 5 By relatives of grouped disappeared In the group Guerreros Relevanters, which ensures that this site, a Teuchitlán farm (Jalisco, west), was also “extermination center” with “clandestine crematoriums”.
The property had already been categorized In September after fighting between military and the Jalisco Nueva Generación poster (CJNG), With strong presence in this municipality 60 km from Guadalajara, state capital.
This is what is known about the case of Teuchitlán, which adds to the count of rugged findings In the middle of the escalation that tripled the homicide rate up to 24 percent thousand inhabitants in two decades.
The Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office says that then found bone remains with “thermal exposure”, But the collective discovered more buried bones last week, Hundreds of shoes and other objects that went unnoticed during the first search.
Jalisco is the Mexican State with the most missing: Almost 15 thousand of 124 thousand officially registered, most since 2006 when war was declared to the narco.
This is what is known about the case of Teuchitlán, which adds to the count of rugged findings in the middle of the escalation that tripled the homicide rate up to 24 percent thousand inhabitants in two decades.
What was found?
After anonymous calls, the search engines began at the Izaguirre ranch their usual excavations in search of remains. They opened three holes where they discovered pieces of incinerated bones. For the group, those graves were “crematoriums.”
In a construction they found several quarters with some “200 pairs of shoes”, piled clothes, suitcases, hygiene products and notebooks with weapons, Nicknames purchases, letters and even baby loaders.
Also They discovered percussed long arms cartridges, sheets to practice shot and an altar of the “holy death”, Cult rooted among criminals.
Since October 2023, groups reported The finding of six other alleged “clandestine crematoriums” in Jalisco.
Hundreds of tombs have been discovered in other places from the country such as Bartolina (Tamaulipas, Northeast), where authorities unearthed 500 kilos of remains between 2017 and 2021. The government called it “extermination site.”
What do the authorities say?
The Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office He admits that his first inquiries in Teuchitlán were “insufficient.”
“It is not credible that a situation of that nature It would not have been known by local authorities “, This week said the attorney general, Alejandro Gertz, who assumed the case after a request from President Claudia Sheinbaum, who this Friday promised that he would reveal all the findings of the investigations.
After new inspections, the Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office assured this Thursday as “There are no structures that serve as furnaces,” although it is still looking for possible remains.
However, violence overflows Mexican security and justice institutions, also weighed out of links with criminals.
What are the hypotheses?
“We are talking about a recruitment center of our young people,” Navarro, leader of Warriors seeking.
Refers to a complaint that the CJNG -considerate terrorist by the United States – Encourage young people in Jalisco and other regions through kidnappings or false job offers.
In 2024, media and groups documented Some 30 cases of young people who disappeared near the Tlaquepaque Bus Central (Jalisco), After going to alleged work interviews.
40.6% of those disappeared in Mexico are men aged 20 to 39.
In mid -2023 eight young people were killed in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, that were allegedly forced to extort from a Call Center.
That of Teuchitlán “was a training camp (…) destined to the preparation of alleged hitmen “, Jorge Ramírez Plascencia, who investigates the disappeared crisis at the University of Guadalajara.
Maintains that abandoned footwear and clothing They would belong to gunmen who usually receive military garments after training.
In his opinion, the remains would be “killed recruits.”
However, it could also be migrants belongings, since it is a common practice the kidnapping of them by posters.
A moving letter
It was found among belongings too A letter from a young man who would have been kidnapped in February 2024.
“My love, if one day I don’t return, I just ask you to remember how much I love you”.