A Mexican court sentences 10 men to 141 years each in a cartel-run recruitment ranch
The discovery earlier this year of the Izaguirre ranch, used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel for recruitment and training since 2021, had sparked alarm and fear across the region.
The 10 men were arrested in September 2024 during an initial raid on the property. They were convicted on Monday in the disappearance and murder of three victims. On Tuesday, each was sentenced to 141 years and three months in prison, and ordered to pay 1.3 million pesos (about $65,000) in restitution to the victims' families, the local prosecutor's office said.
Five other suspects detained in the case are still awaiting trial, including three municipal police officers, a CJNG operative who allegedly recruited new members, and José Murguía Santiago, the mayor of Teuchitlan, the municipality where the ranch is located.
Murguía Santiago was arrested just days after Mexico's Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero revealed that since 2021, the Jalisco state Human Rights Commission had alerted Teuchitlan authorities about the ranch being operated by CJNG, but the warning was ignored for years.
The case had sparked a major controversy after Guerrero Buscadores de Jalisco — a group that searches for missing persons — reported in March 5 the discovery of numerous charred human bones and hundreds of clothing items and shoes at the site.
The shock brought back into the spotlight stark violence and rampant impunity in cartel-plagued parts of the Latin American nation and the tragedy of the investigations into Mexico's 130,000 missing people.
Following that report, it emerged that Jalisco's state prosecutors had not moved forward with the investigation for several months after the initial raid on the ranch, when the National Guard intervened and arrested the 10 men. During that operation, one body and two of the men later detained were found on the ranch.
Due to missteps and omissions by state authorities, the federal Attorney General's Office took over the case — but criticism persisted.
At the end of April, Gertz Manero dismissed claims that cremation sites existed at 'Rancho Izaguirre,' fueling backlash from activists. The group Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco responded, saying it had recovered '17 sets of charred human bone remains' from the site, which are now in the custody of forensics teams.
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Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
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