MEXICO CITY: A group of volunteers searching for missing relatives first received a tip last week about a mass grave hidden in western Mexico. When they arrived at an abandoned ranch outside La Estanzuela, a small rural village outside Guadalajara, they discovered three underground cremation ovens, burned human remains, hundreds of bone shards and discarded personal items, and figurines of Santa Muerte – the Holy Death.
The Mexican authorities, who were notified of the grisly discovery, said in several statements that they later found 96 shell casings of various calibers and metal gripping rings at the ranch. By last Friday, the discovery was dominating local newspapers and TV reports, and the search group was referring to the site as an “extermination camp.”
It is unclear how many people died on the site, and none of remains have been identified. The authorities have yet to say who operated the camp, what crimes were committed there and for how long. But this week, the attorney general’s office took over the investigation at the request of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Photos taken by authorities and by the volunteer group, Searching Warriors of Jalisco, at the abandoned ranch showed over 200 shoes piled together and heaps of other personal items: a blue summer dress, a small pink backpack, notebooks, pieces of underwear. The more than 700 personal items were a chilling hint about the number of people who may have died there.
In a country seemingly inured to episodes of brutal violence from drug cartels, where clandestine graves emerge every month, the images shocked Mexicans and prompted outraged human rights groups to demand that the govt put an end to the violence.
Over 120,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico since record-keeping began in 1962. Human rights groups and collectives of volunteers in search of missing relatives have warned that the number could be higher.
The discovery at the ranch comes at a time where Sheinbaum faces intense pressure from President Donald Trump to crack down on organised crime. Partly because of his threats, Sheinbaum has shifted security issues back to centrestage on her agenda. But her govt faces significant challenges. One of the most violent criminal organisations in Mexico, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which emerged in the early 2010s, is now a major producer and trafficker of synthetic drugs, particularly fentanyl and methamphetamine. The group, which operates in the state of Jalisco and across the country, has diversified into other criminal activities like illegal logging, human trafficking and extortion.