The remains of five people have been found in Mexico in the investigation into the disappearance and alleged murder of five young people, a case that has sparked outrage at the daily violence linked to drug trafficking.
Calcined “bone remains and four skulls” were found, said the prosecutor’s office in the state of Jalisco (west), according to which forensic experts are hard at work “to identify the victims”.
The charred remains of another person were found inside a car on August 15, the same source said.
The father of one of the missing told AFP that he was still waiting for “all the necessary expertise”. “We are looking for our children because we miss them, because we miss their smiles, because we miss their love,” added Armando Olmeda.
His son Roberto Carlos, 20, was an industrial engineering student at the University of Guadalajara, he said. He disappeared Friday evening in the locality of Lagos de Moreno with four other young people aged 19 to 22. All were childhood friends, according to various testimonies.
A video of their alleged murder has been in the process of being authenticated since Tuesday. In this video, one of the young people was allegedly forced to hit one of his friends, according to several media.
The families “consider that there is a strong possibility (…) that it is their relatives”, the prosecutor said on Tuesday during a press conference. The release of the video has fueled outrage in a country that has recorded more than 400,000 homicides since 2006.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Thursday denied having dodged the day before by joking a question from reporters about the case. “I cannot make fun of the pain and the misfortune of others”, he assured during his daily press conference, attacking as usual the “conservative bloc” and “all the media with a few honorable exceptions”.
Jalisco is the state with the highest number of missing persons among the 32 entities in the country (14,800, for a total of 110,000 cases). A total of 141 clandestine graves were found from 2018 to 2023 in Jalisco, the cradle of tequila but also of drug trafficking.
On June 6, the remains of eight call center workers were found in a clandestine grave near Jalisco’s capital Guadalajara.
08/18/2023 12:42:47 – Lagos de Moreno (Mexique) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
