Mexico’s top prosecutor denounces state investigation into cartel’s ‘ranch of horror’
Bones, clothing and underground ovens were found at the suspected drug cartel training ground
Mexico’s top prosecutor said on Wednesday there had been flaws in the investigation of a ranch in the western state of Jalisco, which activists have called a cartel-run “extermination camp”, and vowed to uncover the truth of what happened there.
Earlier this month, a group of activists searching for missing loved ones found ashes, thousands of bone fragments, items of clothing, and alleged underground ovens possibly used to cremate bodies at the ranch in Teuchitlan, about 64km (40 miles) outside Guadalajara, the Jalisco state capital.
More than 124,000 people are missing in Mexico, according to government data, largely as a result of drug cartel violence. Most cases are never solved, breeding a deep mistrust of authorities among those searching for the missing.
Mexico’s attorney general, Alejandro Gertz, said at a press conference that Jalisco state authorities were aware of the ranch as early as September, but had not tested human remains at the site or properly identified the clothing and shoes found there. The state authorities also had not alerted federal officials, he said.