There have been many false dawns as Mexico has struggled to come to terms with the shocking number of people who go missing every day. But could the recent discovery of an “extermination site” on an abandoned ranch in western Jalisco mark a turning point for change?
The images of several hundred pairs of shoes, clothing items, backpacks and personal belongings—evoking the horrors of Nazi concentration camps—seem to have struck a nerve with the Mexican public. Some have even referred to the site as Jalisco’s Auschwitz, a comparison that resonated deeply across the country.
Had all these items belonged to young people who were slaughtered, then reduced to bones and ashes? (Some ruling party politicians who expressed who skepticism were immediately pilloried for their comments.) The remains now being unearthed at the Teuchitlán ranch—a mere 40 miles west of Guadalajara—suggest that this may indeed have been the case, although the full scope of the crimes committed there has yet to be determined.
There appears little doubt that the remote ranch served as a training camp for the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). Survivors’ testimonies confirm that young people were lured to bus stations with the false promise of jobs, only to be kidnapped and taken to camps where they were brutally “inducted.” Those who couldn’t complete the training were reportedly killed without mercy. These camps comprised a network extending throughout Mexico, according to various investigative reports.
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