Mexico launches federal probe over mass graves at suspected cartel site

Mexican authorities will investigate a housing complex in the state of Jalisco where mass graves, hundreds of personal belongings, and clandestine crematoriums were discovered by a collective searching for missing persons.

Mexico’s Prosecutor’s Office will lead the investigation after President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Wednesday that her administration requested the agency to take over the case. The Prosecutor’s Office is an autonomous constitutional body, independent from the executive branch.

Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus stated that the Mexican National Search Commission will also collaborate with state and national authorities to investigate the mass graves. The complex is also believed to have been a recruitment center for a regional criminal organization.

The discovery was made last week by the collective Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco (Warrior Searchers of Jalisco) following an anonymous tip. The site, located at the Izaguirre Ranch in the locality of Teuchitlán, was initially searched by the collective before authorities intervened.

According to the collective, human remains, three clandestine crematoriums, over 400 shoes, farewell letters from victims, and weapon shells were found at the site. Jalisco state authorities later released a list of nearly 500 recovered items, including shirts, backpacks, sneakers, skirts, tights, and blouses.

Mexican media has referred to the site as an “extermination camp.” Reports indicate it was also a recruitment center linked to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations, and recently designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Trump administration.

Recruits, often young men lured by fake job offers or forcibly abducted, were subjected to brutal physical training and combat simulations, according to activist Indira Navarro. The camp reportedly had a tiered system: the initial phase, called “el kínder,” involved extreme physical conditioning, while the second phase, known as “la escuelita del terror” (the little school of terror), consisted of combat training allegedly conducted by former military instructors from Mexico and Colombia. Failure at any stage—whether due to exhaustion, disobedience, or poor performance—could result in execution.

Navarro, a member of the collective, said in an interview that a woman who survived the camp reported that up to 1,500 people may have died there while she was held against her will.

The survivor described harrowing conditions where people were forced to fight for food and faced severe punishments for crying. She also alleged that organ trafficking took place at the complex.

The site had been raided in September 2024 by the National Guard, when 10 individuals were detained, two kidnap victims were rescued, and one body was found. However, no significant action followed, and the property remained secured but unexamined until the collective’s discovery, sparking outrage and demands for an investigation into possible collusion by authorities.

Mexico’s Attorney General, Alejandro Gertz Manero, called it “not credible” that local authorities missed the ovens and remains during earlier searches. President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed with Manero’s assessment after announcing the request for the prosecutor’s office to get involved in the investigation.

“The images (from the scene), which are obviously painful, has to be thoroughly examined to determine exactly what happened there,” Sheinbaum said. “This coordinated investigation is important, aside from ensuring that the appropriate responsibilities are determined.”