Authorities have apprehended the mayor of the town Teuchitlán, marking the first instance of a public official being taken into custody related to this investigation. Accusations against the mayor suggest involvement with a notorious cartel. The place of concern is the Izaguirre ranch in Teuchitlán, situated near the bustling city of Guadalajara. Alejandro Gertz, the Attorney General, recently confirmed that the ranch was a stronghold for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, offering a haven for their recruitment and training operations.
The mayor in question, José Asunción Murguía Santiago, faces charges of organised crime affiliation and operating a recruitment centre that was revealed in March. The charges also include the alleged enforced disappearance of individuals. The shocking news was delivered by prosecutors in a hearing held on a recent Friday.
Discovered on an isolated ranch surrounded by sugar cane fields in Teuchitlán, was a large quantity of shoes, heaps of garments, and what seemed to be fragments of human bone. This ranch, located a short distance from Guadalajara, intrigued volunteer searchers who first exposed its existence. After the announcement of this discovery, people across the country were left in disbelief and shock.
Initially, the ranch was suspected as a site for human cremation. But the authorities later clarified that there wasn’t any solid proof to substantiate those claims. However, the revelations about Murguía Santiago certainly underscore a long-standing history of collaboration between government officials and criminal organizations in Mexico. These revelations come at a time when former President Trump proposed the use of U.S. troops in an initiative to combat the ever-growing power of cartels. The Mexican government, however, declined the proposal.
Alejandro Gertz reiterated that the Izaguirre ranch in Teuchitlán had been under the control of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel until recently. The cartel purportedly used deceptive job offers at the ranch as a strategy to lure and recruit unsuspecting individuals. Saint Geritz, in his recent statement, refuted earlier narratives about cremations taking place at the ranch. He called such narratives about the site being an ‘extermination camp’ unfounded.
Contrary to the federal findings, volunteer groups maintain their claim of finding charred remnants. They report finding as many as seventeen sets of burnt human remains, including teeth and bone fragments at the ranch. The attorney general acknowledged the lack of clarity on the exact number of people who might have disappeared at the ranch, asserting that the investigation will target all those complicit in the cartel’s business.
This case has refocused attention on the increasing numbers of people that have gone missing in Mexico since the 1960s – a figure that currently stands at over 127,000. It has posed a serious challenge to the administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum further elevating the ongoing pressure to find a resolution to the country’s seemingly endless disappearance crisis. The situation has grown bleak since she assumed the role in October, with about 8,700 more disappearances reported, as per the government’s records.
President Sheinbaum has pledged to use every resource at her disposal to combat the cartels. Since Trump’s rise to power, her administration has been escalating their efforts in this regard. However, the intricate and enduring ties between Mexican authorities and drug syndicates continue to persist.
The ongoing investigation around the Teuchitlán case has resulted in the arrest of over a dozen individuals so far. Among the detainees, there are four ex-police officers, a police chief, and a cartel leader, identified as José Gregorio Lastra. According to the authorities, Lastra played a pivotal role in supervising the training center.
In his testimony, partly revealed to the public, Lastra allegedly confessed that the group would resort to cruel acts of violence, such as killing, brutalizing, and torturing those who either attempted to flee or resisted the training. Murguía Santiago, now in his third term of office, is the first government official to have been held. He was arrested on the third of May, a move that experts believe reflects the deep-seated nexus between organized crime and local authorities in areas of Mexico.
David Mora, a senior analyst from the International Crisis Group, provided an insight into the harsh reality of this situation. He stated, ‘You’re left with two grave options. Either shoulder the heavy cost of curtailing the territorial expansion of organized crime or be forced into collusion.’
The deposition against the mayor was delivered during a recent hearing held on a Friday. Prosecutors claim that he paid several visits to the ranch in 2024 and was on the cartel’s payroll. In return, he allegedly allowed the cartel to operate their training center with the benefit of surveillance conducted by the municipal police, ensuring that the recruits did not escape.
Victor Manuel Guajardo, one of the federal prosecutors on the case, expressed his incredulity during the hearing, saying, ‘It’s hard to believe that the person meant to protect us is implicated in this criminal organization. He allowed the cartel to flourish.’ Murguía Santiago, on his part, has thus far refused to present his testimony.
During the hearing, the mayor’s secretary provided an alibi, stating that the mayor couldn’t possibly have visited the ranch during the periods in question, as she was with him ‘most of the time’. However, she admitted that there were times when she lost track of him during the afternoons. In a televised interview conducted in March, Murguía Santiago denied any knowledge about the activities happening at the ranch, stating, ‘I am not worried. We have no part in this. My objective as a mayor is to serve people.’
Earlier this year, the Trump administration accused the Mexican government of being under cartel control, suggesting a need for U.S. forces to step in. This proposal led to increased tensions, with Mexico asserting that a unilateral attack by the Pentagon would be seen as an infringement on their sovereignty, potentially setting back diplomatic relations for decades.