No Evidence of Cremations at Mexican Ranch, Attorney General Says

An abandoned ranch in western Mexico that groups looking for missing relatives had affirmed that it was a “extermination camp”, because or discarded personal items and the burned remains were found there, it was a training center for an important poster, Mexico’s lawyer. But, he said that “there is not a single evidence to demonstrate” that the ranch was the site of human cremations.

AT A News Conference Intisting His Office’s Findings So Far in the High-Profile Case, Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Said That the Izaguirre Ranch in Teuchitlán, to Village Near Guadalajara in Jalisco State Was, Totally Provins, Andage Andally Provins Andally Suppens Andally Andally Provins Andally Andally and Lifeful ANDAGE, ANDALLY PROPENS AND LAZEFUL “ANDALLY DEVELOPE” By The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most violent criminal organizations in the country. He said the conclusion was based on testimonies and documents.

But in a deviation from the previous comments, Mr. Gertz insisted that there was no proof of cremations in the ranch.

Mr. Gertz said the authorities found a container of very small bone fragments that originally discovered the ranch in September. He said that studies carried out by a University of Mexico City on evidence, land and other materials did not find heat levels of more than 200 degrees Celsius. The cremations, he said, require excess levels or 800 degrees.

Earlier this month, Mr. Gertz said the researchers had not found evidence of crematoriums in the ranch, but that some remains of Reman found that he had “traces of some type of cremation.” And Mexico Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said last month that, based on the testimony of a detained person, the poster was as far as killing those who resisted training or tried to escape.

On Tuesday, Mr. Gertz said that, beyond the only body found by the authorities in September, when the National Guard exchanged fire with people at the ranch, the researchers had not found more bodies or bones.

The ditches and the holes on the ground, that a search group had believed that they were cremation ovens, were bonfires, said Gertz.

Héctor Flores, a leader of a search group in the state of Jalisco, said in a telephone interview that the search groups still believed that the ranch had been an external site and that people had been incinerated there given what they found last month. He said that officials were using technical language in an effort to change the narrative.

“The government can call it as it goes, but I think that Mexican society is mature and aware of this whole issue of Izaguirre so as not to believe the lies of the federal government,” he said.

Mr. Gertz said the authorities had no idea how many people could have been recruited or missing in the ranch. He said that the forensic team was still studying the bone fragments to identify them, a task that has complicated the bone for its small size.

Several times on Tuesday, Mr. Gertz reminded the public that the investigation was ongoing and that office has only had control of the case since the end of March, when President Claudia Sheinbaum asked him to take over.

After a group of volunteers looking for their missing relatives received a tip in early March about a possible massive grave hidden in western Mexico, the photos of lots of shoes and clothing shocked a country already with scars.

More than 120,000 people have disappeared in Mexico since the country began monitoring in 1962, according to official data. More than 15,000 have disappeared in the state of Jalisco, and many of the cases are believed to be linked to the new generation of Jalisco.

Last month, Mr. Gertz criticized the investigation by local authorities and said he had been full of irregularities. Local officials failed to secure the site after it was first located in September, and was abandoned until the search group arrived last month.

On Tuesday, Mr. Gertz said a State Human Rights Commission in Jalisco told local authorities in 2021 or illegal activities in the ranch “but noticed.” Among the 14 people currently detained in relation to the case, Gertz said that there are three local police officers, including a police chief, as well as a person to whom the authorities have identified as a poster leader who supervised the training center.

“We are going to chase those who were covering or participating in” the operations of the poster in the ranch, said Gertz, and pointed out that this included public officials. He also said that his office was investigating other possible “narco-ranches” in the area.

As for the clothing bags found in the ranch, but that they have not been studied by local authorities, Mr. Gertz said he did not know who they belonged to. But he said that federal researchers planned to work with search groups to help identify the elements and then perhaps link them to their owners through forensic evidence.