The door, black and three meters high, decorated with two white horses, has become a synonym for death in Mexico. For the dozens of families who expected outside on Thursday, it also offered a tragic feeling of hope in their search for disappeared loved ones.
The families had access to what the local media have baptized as the “Rancho del Horror”, an alleged place of murders and training field of a cartel in Teuchitlán, a rural area about 64 kilometers from the capital of Jalisco, Guadalajara.
It was here that an activist group for missing persons found earlier this month what they called an “extermination field” full of bone fragments, ashes, alleged improvised cremates, along with hundreds of shoes, backpacks and other belongings.
The case has shocked Mexico, a country numbed for almost two decades of bloody violence. Although the discovery of common graves is frequent here, the possibility that this ranch was a place of systematic murders has caused a deep feeling of horror.
Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said it is too early to determine if the place was a “extermination center”, but added that the state authorities had spoiled the initial investigation, which has now been delivered to federal investigators.
The property is surrounded by high walls that block the view from the outside. There are some houses in ruins and barreros similar structures now blocked by crime scene tape. Small red, yellow and green flags stand out from the earth to mark the place where the authorities found personal objects of the people that are presumed were brought here: shoes, backpacks, identity documents.
It is the first time that official access to relatives of missing persons, as well as journalists, accompanied by authorities of state and federal prosecutors.
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People who are looking for their sons and daughters have been demanding that they are allowed to enter, expressing their concern about the lack of transparency in the investigation, a very widespread feeling in Mexico, where more than 124,000 people have disappeared and from which they are few.
Blue backpack
Irma González, from Puebla, said he identified a blue backpack and a sweatshirt that belonged to his son, which disappeared in 2021, in photos shared online by researchers.
“These things at least give me peace of mind that if my son died here, I will not look for anymore,” González said while waiting with other families to enter the ranch.
He reported that he believed that his life was in danger to speak.
“I received a call from someone, I don’t know who; they told me not to speak because if they are not going to kill me,” he added.
The powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which was believed to operate the ranch, has lashed out at the search groups that they found and released the place, affirming in a video attributed to the criminal group on social networks that had distorted the facts to create a “horror film” with the aim of damaging their image.
Families had come from all over the country to visit the ranch, hoping to find some trace of their disappeared loved ones.
“I don’t understand what these criminal groups want. Why are they taking themselves so much young?” Said Reynaldo Núñez, whose two children, 23 and 25, disappeared in Jalisco eight months ago.
It is not clear how many people could be buried in the ranch or how they died. The Attorney General criticized the authorities of Jalisco on Wednesday, stating that they knew the existence of the place since September, but that the evidence or alerted the federal authorities had not properly prosecuted.
The scandal has overshadowed the promise of President Claudia Sheinbaum to take strong measures against violence and reduce homicides.
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The attention around Teuchitlán puts pressure on Sheinbaum, who assumed the position in October, to differentiate himself from his mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who critics say he did not do enough to deal with disappearances and deterioration of security.
“I do not consider that it is my Achilles heel,” Sheinbaum said Thursday at his usual morning press conference when asked about the management of the case.
Outside the ranch, the tension increased as more families arrived at the place demanding answers. Many, frustrated by years of waiting in the dark, began to shout.
“I have found a lot of pain, many tears (…) But I haven’t found my husband,” said a woman crying while waiting for her to let her in.
With Reuters information
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