Mexican police have uncovered 32 mass graves containing at least 166 human bodies believed to belong to victims of cartel violence, officials have announced.
Using drones and ground-penetrating radar, police were able to pinpoint the secret graveyard. Following weeks of painstaking examination of the thousands of bones piled into the pits, authorities say that they believe the bodies had been there for around two years.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Addressing a news conference yesterday, State Attorney General Jorge Winckler said that the pits - the precise location of which he declined to reveal - were on a key trafficking route for cartels smuggling drugs north off the border into the US.
Veracruz has “long been racked by violent crime”, as rival gangs fight for dominance of the lucrative narcotics trade, says Reuters.
As well as “bloody turf battles between the Zetas and Jalisco drug cartels” , the state has also suffered “waves of kidnappings and extortions”, Time magazine reports. Criminal lawlessness has been exacerbated by rampant bribery and corruption in local government.
In 2016 and 2017, the remains of a total of at least 253 people believed to be victims of cartel violence were found at various mass graves near the state capital, and further secret burial sites have been found across Mexico.
Winckler said that personal effects retrieved from the newly discovered graves included 114 identification documents. The families of missing people would be allowed to view the personal items recovered from the graves and to submit their DNA for testing against the remains, he added.
“More than 5,000 people are believed to have gone missing between 2010 and 2016 in the state of Veracruz alone,” USA Today reports, citing statistics from the Washington DC-based Congressional Research Center.
-
Did Alex Pretti’s killing open a GOP rift on guns?Talking Points Second Amendment groups push back on White House narrative
-
The 8 best hospital dramas of all timethe week recommends From wartime period pieces to of-the-moment procedurals, audiences never tire of watching doctors and nurses do their lifesaving thing
-
‘Implementing strengthened provisions help advance aviation safety’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
