On March 5, the search group went to the farm after receiving a call from a survivor, who assured them that the site was a hitman training camp and that they would find evidence of missing persons.
One survivor recounted that he arrived “because of a job offer for a security guard, which I saw on Facebook.” But after arriving at the Tlaquepaque bus terminal, he was taken with six other men to a safe house, where they were told they would be working as cartel hitmen.
Regarding the piles of shoes and clothing, he explained that not all of them belonged to people killed on the property, “because for training we needed to wear boots, which they themselves sold us.” There was a lot of abuse and murder at the camp. “They killed some people either because they didn’t obey or because they were weak and didn’t pass the training.”
At least 11,660 people have been reported missing in Jalisco between December 1, 2018, and March 21, 2025, according to data from the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons.
Claudia Sheinbaum admitted on Thursday that “there is an issue related to the disappearance of people in our country” and acknowledged “the magnitude of this problem.”
The discovery of the clandestine cemetery at the Izaguirre ranch in Teuchitlán, Jalisco state, has shocked all of Mexico. The country is experiencing a crisis due to the disappearance of more than 120,000 people since Felipe Calderón’s administration, a number that has only increased in 18 years amid astonishing impunity.
Disturbed earth can be seen, apparently covering rudimentary clandestine crematoriums, charred bones, a mountain of dusty shoes, piles of dirty clothes, numerous suitcases and backpacks, an official ID, handwritten notes, and a farewell letter. These are some of the images of the “recruitment and extermination camp” circulated on social media by the Guerreros Buscadores collective of Jalisco, made up of relatives of people who have disappeared as a result of the violence in Mexico.
The discovery of the ranch exposed the negligence of the authorities, as the place was not unfamiliar to them. The National Guard raided the farm in September 2024, responding to a telephone report. Upon arrival, they were greeted by high-powered weapons fire, but managed to subdue and arrest ten attackers, free two kidnapped individuals who had been held captive, and found the body of a man.
The case was handed over to the Jalisco Attorney General’s Office, but the latter did not notify the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), despite evidence that the case involved organized crime, which falls under its jurisdiction. Nothing more was known until the searchers arrived.
Source: diariojuridico
