Tlajomulco, Jalisco: 13 Bodies Identified of at least 50

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: LaOpinion / Debate

Guadalajara, Jalisco:  The bodies of at least 50 people were exhumed from a clandestine grave in the Mexican state of Jalisco, after 23 days of work, local authorities announced on Saturday.

The pit was located on November 22 in a farm in a town in the municipality of Tlajomulco , just outside Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, one of the states most hit by violence linked to organized crime in Mexico.

In a statement, the local prosecutor's office said that it is now up to the coroner to "establish all bodies found" and "determine the sex and cause of death of all victims."

So far, 13 bodies were identified and handed over to their relatives: 12 of them are men and another corresponds to a woman. All had complaints of disappearance before the authorities.

During the work, prosecutors and coroners used heavy machinery, dogs and technological equipment.

Before the discovery, the authorities had finished the excavations in another pit of a nearby town.

Both lands were located with the information provided by 15 people who were arrested on November 6, in a warehouse in the nearby town of Tlaquepaque, where the authorities also rescued eight people who were deprived of their liberty. ( See our Post on that incident HERE )

So far this year, the findings of clandestine graves in Jalisco have been common. On May 7, in Zapopan, a suburb of Guadalajara, a house with 30 buried bodies was located. On September 3, also in that suburb, another pit with 34 bodies was located.

440%  body findings have increased in Jalisco graves:

A total of 28 clandestine graves have been found this 2019 in Jalisco, of which 135 bodies have been removed, however they are currently analyzing more beds with human remains

From January to November, Jalisco authorities reported 2,465 homicides in the state. On March 1, the government deployed 1,400 soldiers to redouble the surveillance of Jalisco, headquarters of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

According to authorities, violence in Jalisco has intensified since March 2017 after a fracture inside the cartel, which also rivals criminal groups in neighboring Guanajuato for control of fuel traffic.