Latest news with #Gertz
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Yahoo
Mexican mayor arrested over alleged links to cartel training camp
Prosecutors in Mexico have arrested the mayor of Teuchitlán in western Jalisco state as part of their investigation into a nearby cartel training site. The mayor, José Murguía Santiago, is suspected of colluding with the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG), which he has denied. The investigation was launched after activists discovered bone fragments and hundreds of discarded shoes, backpacks and items of clothing at the Izaguirre ranch outside the town in March. Rights groups said that they feared the ranch had been used as an "extermination camp", where people were forcedly recruited and trained, and those who refused were tortured and killed. The discovery by people searching for their missing relatives of what appeared to be evidence of mass killings at the site shocked the country, where cartel violence is rife. Read: Ovens and bone fragments - BBC visits Mexican cartel 'extermination' site Mexico's Attorney-General Alejandro Gertz gave a news conference last week updating journalists on the federal investigation into the ranch. He confirmed that the site had been used as a training centre for recruits of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most feared and powerful transnational drug trafficking gangs, which has its power base in Jalisco. However, he said that there was no evidence that it had been used as an extermination and cremation site. According to the attorney-general, bone fragments discovered there were not recent and forensic tests suggested that the fires lit at the ranch would not have been hot enough to dispose of human remains. Gertz's statements caused anger among "searchers", the name given to relatives looking for the more than 120,000 people who have been reported missing in Mexico over the past two decades. They said that his news conference raised more questions than it answered and failed to address to whom the many abandoned shoes found at the ranch belonged and what had become of those people. Gertz insisted that the authorities would continue looking into whether there had been any collusion between the CJNG and local officials. The arrest of Mayor Murguía Santiago is part of that ongoing investigation. Prior to his arrest, the mayor had said that he had nothing to hide. "If they want to investigate me, let them, I'm clean and willing to say what I know," he told local media. But prosecutors allege that he knew of the existence of the training centre and did not act on that knowledge. Disappearances double in Sinaloa amid Mexican cartel rift Extortion and kidnap - a deadly journey across Mexico The Searchers: Mexican women who look for the dead
BBC News
05-05-2025
- BBC News
Mexican mayor arrested over alleged links to cartel training camp
Prosecutors in Mexico have arrested the mayor of Teuchitlán in western Jalisco state as part of their investigation into a nearby cartel training site. The mayor, José Murguía Santiago, is suspected of colluding with the New Generation Jalisco Cartel (CJNG), which he has denied. The investigation was launched after activists discovered bone fragments and hundreds of discarded shoes, backpacks and items of clothing at the Izaguirre ranch outside the town in March. Rights groups said that they feared the ranch had been used as an "extermination camp", where people were forcedly recruited and trained, and those who refused were tortured and killed. The discovery by people searching for their missing relatives of what appeared to be evidence of mass killings at the site shocked the country, where cartel violence is rife. Read: Ovens and bone fragments - BBC visits Mexican cartel 'extermination' siteMexico's Attorney-General Alejandro Gertz gave a news conference last week updating journalists on the federal investigation into the confirmed that the site had been used as a training centre for recruits of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most feared and powerful transnational drug trafficking gangs, which has its power base in Jalisco. However, he said that there was no evidence that it had been used as an extermination and cremation to the attorney-general, bone fragments discovered there were not recent and forensic tests suggested that the fires lit at the ranch would not have been hot enough to dispose of human remains. Gertz's statements caused anger among "searchers", the name given to relatives looking for the more than 120,000 people who have been reported missing in Mexico over the past two decades. They said that his news conference raised more questions than it answered and failed to address to whom the many abandoned shoes found at the ranch belonged and what had become of those people. Gertz insisted that the authorities would continue looking into whether there had been any collusion between the CJNG and local arrest of Mayor Murguía Santiago is part of that ongoing investigation. Prior to his arrest, the mayor had said that he had nothing to hide. "If they want to investigate me, let them, I'm clean and willing to say what I know," he told local prosecutors allege that he knew of the existence of the training centre and did not act on that knowledge.
Business Insider
03-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
I went to Cornell's new MakerLAB, and student entrepreneurs told me they're 'bracing' for Trump's threats to cut funding
A laser printer whirred to life as it etched the twisted-T-shaped logo of Cornell University's Tata Innovation Center onto a large neon orange acrylic slab. Between the printer's clicks, a student excitedly explained to me that the printer could work with several materials. She was one of half a dozen students tinkering in the MakerLAB, designed to help students and tech entrepreneurs prototype their creations. The event's cheery mood, celebrating the opening of the lab on Friday, was also scattered with concerns about policies being implemented by the second Trump administration. Federal funding to universities for research could be withheld if they do not comply with President Donald Trump's new policies on doing away with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cornell supports DEI programs and is at risk of losing federal funding. I spoke with Monica Gertz, a postdoctoral fellow who helped create a wearable device that applies machine learning to restore speech in patients with limited speech. She said the research center supports her work, though she worries about scaling as federally funded research programs dwindle. "I am bracing myself for when funding pullbacks hit my project," Gertz told me, adding that she had applied for small loans through the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. "Right now, I can keep this going to a certain point, but I do need to get money so I can start hiring people to really accelerate the pace," Gertz said. "I have amazing interns right now, but I'm at the point where I need to start paying people, so there is concern." From an auditorium elsewhere in the 15,000-square-foot innovation center, Cornell Tech Dean Greg Morrisett addressed a crowd that had gathered to celebrate the MakerLAB's opening. He brought out huge novelty scissors to cut a red ribbon, christening the lab open for business. "On the recent chaos from Washington, it's really disruptive," Morrisett told me. "I'm really worried about what's happening in Washington because we want to attract the best talent from all around the world and keep them here, in New York and the US, but the administration has not been helping us in that regard," he added. Morrisett said that Cornell Tech did a recent economic impact study that said the school generates about $750 million annually in economic activity for New York City, including from startups and alums. "We bring in lots of international students, but over half of them stay here in New York City," Morrisett said. "They get jobs here, they work here, and they contribute to the economy." Several local leaders and politicians also attended, including Rep. Jerry Nadler. Nadler vowed to fight back against the administration to preserve funding for research centers like Cornell's. "We have been witnessing an attack on our academic institutions—threats of funding cuts, stifling of voices, and encroachment on freedom," Nadler said. "I recommit myself to using every tool I can to fight back on these attacks and to celebrate investment that gives our students, faculty, and campus community the tools they need to success, such as the MakerLAB."
New York Times
29-04-2025
- New York Times
No Evidence of Cremations at Mexican Ranch, Attorney General Says
An abandoned ranch in western Mexico that groups searching for missing relatives had claimed was an 'extermination camp' — because of discarded personal items and burned remains found there — was a training hub for a major cartel, Mexico's attorney general announced on Tuesday. But, he said 'there is not a single piece of evidence to prove' that the ranch was the site of human cremations. At a news conference presenting his office's findings so far in the high-profile case, Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said that the Izaguirre ranch in Teuchitlán, a village near Guadalajara in Jalisco state, was 'totally proven' to have been used as a recruitment, training and operations center by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most violent criminal organizations in the country. He said that conclusion was based on testimonials and documents. But in a departure from previous comments, Mr. Gertz insisted that there was no proof of cremations at the ranch. Mr. Gertz said a container of very small bone fragments was found by the authorities who originally discovered the ranch in September. He said that studies conducted by a Mexico City university on evidence, dirt and other materials did not find heat levels over 200 degrees Celsius. Cremations, he said, require levels in excess of 800 degrees. Earlier this month, Mr. Gertz said that investigators had not found evidence of crematories at the ranch, but that some human remains found there had 'traces of some type of cremation.' And Mexico's security minister, Omar García Harfuch, said last month that, based on a detained person's testimony, the cartel went as far as killing those who resisted training or tried to escape. On Tuesday, Mr. Gertz said that, beyond the one body found by the authorities in September, when the National Guard exchanged fire with people at the ranch, investigators had not found more bodies or bones. The ditches and holes in the ground — which a search group had believed to be cremation ovens — were bonfires, Mr. Gertz said. Héctor Flores, a leader of a search group in Jalisco state, said in a phone interview that search groups still believed that the ranch had been an extermination site and that people had been cremated there given what they found last month. He said that officials were using technical language in an effort to change the narrative. 'The government can call it whatever it wants, but I think Mexican society is mature enough and aware of this whole Izaguirre topic to not believe the lies of the federal government,' he said. Mr. Gertz said that authorities had no idea how many people may have been recruited or disappeared at the ranch. He said the forensic team was still studying the bone fragments to identify them, a task that has been complicated by their small size. Multiple times on Tuesday, Mr. Gertz reminded the public that the investigation was ongoing and that his office has only had control of the case since late March, when President Claudia Sheinbaum asked him to take over. After a group of volunteers searching for their missing relatives received a tip in early March about a possible mass grave hidden in western Mexico, photos of heaps of shoes and clothes shocked a country already scarred by many episodes of brutal violence and clandestine graves. More than 120,000 people have gone missing in Mexico since the country began keeping track in 1962, according to official data. More than 15,000 have gone missing in the state of Jalisco, with many of the cases believed to be linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Last month, Mr. Gertz criticized the investigation carried out by local authorities and said it had been riddled with irregularities. Local officials failed to secure the site after it was first located in September, and it was abandoned until the search group came along last month. On Tuesday, Mr. Gertz said that a state human rights commission in Jalisco told local authorities in 2021 of illicit activities at the ranch 'but they did nothing.' Among the 14 people currently detained in connection with the case, Mr. Gertz said there are three local police officers, including a police chief, as well as a person whom the authorities have identified as a cartel leader who oversaw the training center. 'We're going to go after those who were covering up or participating in' the cartel's operations at the ranch, Mr. Gertz said, noting that this included public officials. He also said that his office was investigating other possible 'narco-ranches' in the area. As far as the bags of clothes that were found at the ranch — but that have not been studied by local authorities — Mr. Gertz said that he did not know whom they belonged to. But he said that federal investigators planned to work with search groups to help identify the items and then perhaps link them to their owners through forensic tests.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
Mexico's top lawman: Ranch in Jalisco was a cartel training site, not a crematorium
The discovery in March of a "death ranch" in western Jalisco state sparked a national outcry: Some labeled it "Mexico's Auschwitz" after civilian searchers found charred bones and what appeared to be makeshift crematoria. Piles of abandoned shoes, backpacks and clothing became vivid symbols of Mexico's crisis of the disappeared, now officially numbering more than 120,000 vanished individuals, most presumed victims of organized crime. Mystery has continued to swirl about the site — and, on Tuesday, Mexican Atty. Gen. Alejandro Gertz Manero briefed journalists on the long-awaited findings of the federal investigation. But his responses left more questions than answers about the grisly find that garnered both domestic and international headlines — and became an embarrassment for the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who vowed that Mexicans would know "the truth" about what went on at the ranch. Read more: Families flock to Mexican murder ranch, hoping for signs of loved ones Gertz confirmed that the ranch — situated in an agricultural zone about 37 miles outside Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city — had operated as a training and operations hub for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, among Mexico's most powerful criminal syndicates. But a forensic investigation found "not a shred of proof" that corpses were burned at the site, Gertz told reporters, dismissing the notion that the ranch had been a cartel extermination center. The origins of the charred bones found at the locale, known as Rancho Izaguirre, remained unclear, and Gertz said forensic analysis was continuing. No bodies or complete sets of bones were found, he said. The attorney general's findings drew criticism from advocates for the disappeared. "I feel great indignation with the attorney general and with President Sheinbaum for this insult against us and so many families who believed there would be a real investigation," said Raúl Servín, a member of the group Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, whose visit to the site in March triggered the public outcry about the ranch. "This is a great deception." Federal investigations were still trying to determine why authorities in Jalisco state took no action for years, despite indications that the cartel had been operating at the ranch since at least 2021. The National Guard raided Rancho Izaguirre last September, ending its tenure as a training camp. On that occasion, according to Jalisco prosecutors, authorities arrested 10 suspects who remain in custody, though authorities have not clarified what charges they face. Investigators also found a body wrapped in plastic and freed two captives. However, the case of Rancho Izaguirre did not explode into the public realm until last month, when a group of civilian searchers seeking traces of the disappeared entered the site and said they had found human remains and abandoned belongings. Still opaque is the fate of the many people, some apparently recruits for the cartel, who passed through the camp. Previously, authorities have said that many were deceived into joining the cartel ranks, often after responding to online ads offering well-paying positions as security guards and other posts. Others have speculated that they may have been willing recruits into the ranks of organized crime, which is among Mexico's largest employers. Read more: Mexican cartel mystery: Abandoned shoes, cryptic writings, charred bones Since the case of the ranch broke open, authorities say, Mexican officials have shut down dozens of online sites linked to organized crime recruiting operations. In March, Omar García Harfuch, Mexico's security chief, told reporters that online ads from cartels offered salaries of between $200 and $600 a week — well above the $100 to $150 that many Mexicans earn in a week. Recruits were directed to bus stations, from where they were transported to the ranch, he said. At the camp, officials said, recruits relinquished their clothing and cellphones, remained incommunicado to the outside world, and were issued uniforms and tactical boots — a process that might explain the piles of abandoned personal effects found at the site. The recruits underwent a one-month course of physical drills and firearms training, García Harfuch said, before many were incorporated into the cartel structure. Those who refused training, or tried to escape, may have faced beatings, torture and even death, García Harfuch said. Mexican authorities announced last month the arrest of the alleged camp ringleader, identified only as "José Gregorio N," and known as "El Lastra" or "Comandante Lastra," a top recruiter for the Jalisco cartel. The many questions about the site continue to haunt many in Mexico, especially the searchers who arrived at the site in March and distributed photos of abandoned personal items, charred bones and other chilling finds. "We found those crematoria, we found those bones," said Servín, the Jalisco searcher. "We found evidence. And now they tell us it is not the case. One feels a great sense of impotence." Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
