The Mexican authorities reported this Thursday that they found human remains on a farm in the state of Jalisco, within the framework of the investigations into the disappearance of five young people, a case that shocked Mexico.
The group of friends between the ages of 19 and 22 disappeared last Friday in the town of Lagos de Moreno, and their captivity and probable murder was disseminated in violent images on social networks, although the authorities have not officially confirmed their death.
The Jalisco prosecutor’s office said Thursday in a statement that police officers found “bone remains and four skulls with traces of calcination in their entirety,” although their physical features, age and sex cannot yet be determined. Added to this are the charred remains of another person found in a car on August 15. Forensic investigators work “to identify victims.”
After the disappearance of the young people, an image and a video of them were released on social networks. In the photograph you can see them kneeling and handcuffed while in the video you can see the moment in which one is attacked with a blunt object and a knife, while other bodies lie on the ground. The dissemination of graphic material outraged citizens, columnists and politicians.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not respond to journalists’ questions about the case on Wednesday during his morning conference, an attitude that was severely criticized on the networks. This Thursday, the president assured that he could not listen to the reporters’ questions and added that his government is collaborating in the investigation.
The investigation “corresponds to the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office. Yes, we are helping,” he said at his usual morning press conference.
Jalisco is the state of Mexico with the highest number of disappeared persons with some 14,800, out of a total of 110,000 cases registered since 1962. From 2018 to 2023, 141 clandestine graves have been located in the state. On June 6, the remains of eight call center workers who had been reported missing were found in bags in a clandestine grave in Zapopan, a suburb of the city of Guadalajara.
Mexico has recorded more than 420,000 murders and at least 100,000 disappeared since late 2006, when the government launched a military offensive against drug cartels.