New Development on the Cartel's "Ranch of Terror"

Last week, images of Rancho Izaguirre, a two acre patch of land with sheds, irrigated farmland, and other structures situated 37 miles outside of Guadalajara, began to circulate online. The images were so disturbing that the Mexican press dubbed the area a “concentration camp” and even “Mexican Auschwitz”. These images depicted hundreds of shoes, articles of clothing, backpacks, charred bones, bullet casings, and clips from high power rifles. In a discarded notebook, were numbered columns with nicknames thought to be code keeping inventory of former captives. In this notebook was also a farewell note that read: “My Love if Some day I don’t Return I only ask you to remember how much I Love you.” Inside one cinder block building was a shrine to Santa Muerte, a saint often associated with Mexican organized crime. This led to the belief that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is involved. 

However, Mexico's security minister recently announced there was "no evidence" that a so-called "ranch of horror" littered with human remains was in fact an "extermination camp" but instead it was a cartel training site where those who resisted recruitment were executed.

‍

The Warrior Searchers of Jalisco, a group centered around searching for the alarmingly high number of disappearances in Mexico, were able to get into contact with those who survived their experience in Rancho Izaguirre, most who were captured under the false pretense of work offers. Many were recruited at bus stations within the suburbs of Guadalajara. Survivors claim this spot was used for over a decade as a spot to forcibly recruit, train, and execute individuals.

According to one survivor's testimony, the ranch had several different designated areas: some to train including an obstacle course and shooting range, and a place referred to as “the butcher shop”  where individuals who opposed cartel requests were tortured and killed. It is believed that captives were forced to dismember the bodies of those tortured and killed as a power tactic.

One man recalled, “They tortured us every day just to instill fear. The first thing they did once you arrived at the ranch —after taking away your clothes— was to beat you up with wooden planks.” Another recounted being first trained with a paintball gun before graduating to an AK-47 at the shooting range. Those who tried to escape the ranch were killed on the spot. Despite allegations of government collusion with cartels, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and the attorney general’s office appear dedicated to investigating and prosecuting whatever group is behind this. The Warrior Searchers of Jalisco are still attempting to identify those killed in order to bring closure to families.

‍

Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash