In a precedent-setting move, the first time a governmental figure has been detained with charges pertaining to the ongoing investigation is the mayor of the town of Teuchitlán. He stands accused of collaborating with the infamous cartel, leveraging his position for illicit activities. His arrest has sent a ripple of disturbance through the political infrastructures around him.
The Izaguirre Teuchitlán ranch, nestled close to Guadalajara, is embroiled in the controversy. Its recent usage by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, specifically as a hotspot for recruitment and training, was revealed to the public by Attorney General Alejandro Gertz, adding another dimension to this brewing storm.
Indeed, the mayor of Teuchitlán, José Asunción Murguía Santiago, now finds himself grappling with allegations of his complicity. The supposed recruitment center discovered in March at the same ranch has been linked with him, leading to charges of participation in organized crime and enforced disappearances that prosecutors announced in a recent hearing.
The discovery of a grim collection of shoes, clothing, and supposed human bone fragments at the ranch, once an unassuming property in Jalisco, brought an ominous air to the small but significant town near Guadalajara. Searchers claimed that human cremations had taken place there, which took the nation by surprise due to the shocking discoveries uncovered.
The subsequent doubts raised by authorities about these reported cremations did not detract from the seriousness of allegations pinned on Mr. Murguía Santiago. It faintly echoed the abysmal narrative of political figures and authorities being involved with organized crime, which has long plagued Mexico and its administrative history.
The president has been under mounting pressure from the preceding president’s efforts towards cracking down on cartels, with the added demand for American troops’ involvement. Yet, in the face of rising tension, Mexico’s standing president has declined the offer.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Alejandro Gertz has restated the position of the Izaguirre Ranch as a key point in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s activities. He reasserts, however, that there remains a lack of confirmed evidence of human cremations at the site, despite previous implications. The allegations suggesting the existence of an ‘extermination camp’ have thus far been uncorroborated.
Not everyone shares the federal government’s perspective, as volunteers continue to challenge the official statements. They’ve managed to surface 17 groups of charred human remains from the ranch, from teeth to bone fragments. This alarming find contradicts the government’s assessment, further complicating matters.
Alejandro Gertz has confirmed that the exact quantity of people potentially unnaccounted for on the ranch remains unknown. The intention moving forward is for investigators to focus on catching those aiding or directly involved with the cartel’s operations.
The overwhelming attention this case has received has once again put the 127,000 or more disappearances that have occurred since the 1960s in Mexico under the spotlight. President Claudia Sheinbaum, now under scrutiny, must confront the nation’s crisis of disappearances, an issue that keeps resurfacing.
Upon President Sheinbaum’s inauguration last October, official records show that around 8,700 people have disappeared. She has, however, loudly committed to combating the cartels, especially after the previous administration’s push against them. Regardless, the persisting connections between government officials and drug rings remain a concern.
So far, in conjunction with the sweeping investigation into the Teuchitlán case, over a dozen entities have been detained. Among them are four former officers from the local police department, their chief, and a cartel leader named José Gregorio Lastra. The authorities state that Mr. Lastra was the one running operations at the training center at the ranch.
Testimony from Mr. Lastra spills into the public sphere, describing chilling scenarios where those who dared resist their training or attempted to flee were met with punishment, often fatal. These acts further reveal the dark intimacy between elements of the local governance and the organized crime syndicate.
Mayor Murguía Santiago, now serving his third term in office, is the initial government official to be apprehended in connection with these allegations. His arrest on the 3rd of May underlines the intricate relationships that often intertwine between organized crime and local governments in Mexico, be it through forced complicity or voluntary collaboration.
In the case against the mayor revealed during the recent hearing, prosecutors claim that he was on the payroll of the cartel and allowed them to operate the training center with access to the municipal police’s surveillance powers, ensuring trainees had no prospects of escape. The mayor, however, has vehemently denied these allegations while his defense team maintains that he was largely accompanied by his secretary even during the time he’s alleged to have visited the ranch.