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 CJNG since 2021, sparked alarm and fear across the region. The ten men were arrested in September 2024 during an initial raid. They were convicted of the disappearance and murder of three victims and ordered to pay 1.3 million pesos (about $65,000) in restitution to the victims' families.
Five other suspects await trial, including three municipal police officers, a CJNG operative, and Teuchitlan's mayor, José Murguía Santiago. Murguía Santiago was arrested after Mexico's Attorney General revealed that since 2021, the Jalisco state Human Rights Commission had alerted Teuchitlan authorities about the ranch but was ignored.
The case sparked controversy after Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco, a group that searches for missing persons, reported finding numerous charred human bones, clothing, and shoes at the site in March. This highlighted the violence and impunity in cartel-plagued areas and the tragedy of Mexico's 130,000 missing people.
Following the report, it emerged that Jalisco state prosecutors delayed the investigation for several months after the initial raid, when the National Guard intervened and arrested the ten men. One body and two of the later-detained men were found on the ranch. Due to missteps by state authorities, the federal Attorney General's Office took over the case.
In late April, Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero dismissed claims of cremation sites at Rancho Izaguirre, fueling backlash from activists. Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco responded, saying it recovered seventeen sets of charred human bone remains, now in the custody of forensics teams.
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