CJNG Recruiter "El Lastra" Arrested for Izaguirre Ranch Training Camp Horrors

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Harfuch confirms torture, murder, and online recruitment in relation to the ranch in Teuchitlán. President Claudia Sheinbaum insists that the training camp and the investigation are still under the jurisdiction of the Jalisco State Attorney General's Office.

On Friday, the (GN) National Guard arrested José Gregorio Lastra in Mexico City. He had previously tried to hide in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Tala, a town bordering Teuchitlán. Following that arrest and the statements obtained, Harfuch stated: "They went so far as to take the lives of people who resisted training or tried to escape, as well as beat them and tortured them."

José Gregorio “El Lastra” confessed to training young people and murdering at least eight people who were trying to flee the Izaguirre Ranch. "El Lastra" recruited young people from different states to join the CJNG. They were then sent to various training camps in the Valles region of Jalisco.

Lastra himself was once reported as missing by his wife in 2020. On August 25, 2020, "El Lastra" lost contact with his family and was later reported missing in Chiapas. 

Teuchitlán Training Camp

"Upon arrival, the recruits left their belongings behind and were dressed in tactical clothing and boots, along with their cell phones. The training lasted approximately a month, during which time they remained incommunicado."

During the month-long training, recruits were assigned a position within the organization based on their skills and were assigned to different entities to increase the criminal organization's strength. If they were not killed for refusing to train, they were beaten and subjected to some form of torture.

"El Lastra" is believed to have worked for "El Sapo," Hugo Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán, who is one of the regional leaders of the cartel in Jalisco, Zacatecas and Nayarit and involved in recruitments before.

García Harfuch stated that on March 10, "El Lastra" met with "El Sapo" in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, where he received orders to end the training activities. He then went into hiding in the municipality of Tala, Jalisco, before finally moving to Mexico City, where he was arrested.

The president has placed special emphasis on dismantling the concept of an extermination camp that has been spreading in the media these days, citing the lack of scientific investigations into the ranch's subsoil, something the Attorney General's Office will have to address once it has properly taken over the case. When that will happen is unknown.

"There is still no evidence that it was an extermination camp," Sheinbaum reiterated. Concepts aside, the horror of what happened there has been reported by the media, and the statements of the Secretary of Security confirm this.

Comandante Lastra's Arrest

Omar García Harfuch confirmed that José Gregorio Lastra, “El Lastra” or "Comandante Lastra" was responsible for recruitment CJNG and was in charge of the training center located at Rancho Izaguirre in the municipality of Teuchitlán, Jalisco.

He was apprehended along with Abril Dianeh Robles Vázquez, identified as the person in charge of recruiting kidnapped women.

Lastra, is linked to the recruitment of these youths from the spring of 2024 until March of this year. He was in charge of operations at the Izaguirre ranch. According to the Secretary of Security, they had been on his trail since last year, but he was not been arrested until now, amid the public scandal caused by the Teuchitlán case.

The secretary pointed out that "El Lastra" used social media to publish false job offers with which he deceived people, who ended up in the hands of organized crime. According to García Harfuch, this subject's statement coincides with the testimonies of survivors, who say that people who resisted the training were deprived of their lives.

Among the notes collected at Izaguirre Ranch, there are numerous references to “Lastra,” with the title of commander or the abbreviation “comte.”

Former Police Officers Arrested

On March 23, 2025, the Jalisco State Attorney General's Office announced the arrests of two former municipal police officers from Tala, who were allegedly linked to the individuals operating at the Izaguirre ranch. They were also investigated for depriving a man of his liberty, transporting him to, and delivering him to the alleged criminals, days before the National Guard discovered the site.

Another municipal police officer from Tala had already been arrested for the same case. The victim was one of two people rescued alive by the National Guard in September 2024, the day the property was initially found, in the town of La Estanzuela.

Online Recruiting

At Monday's presidential press conference, it was also announced that 39 websites/profiles used for recruitment have been shut down. Some of these websites, already known, were openly offering jobs for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The SSPC's Cyber ​​Investigation and Patrol searched and analyzed social media profiles related to recruitment and removed 39 pages on various platforms, including TikTok. He also noted that, from September 2024 to the present, 49 people had been arrested in connection with these events.

Some of these posts featured job openings for the criminal organization, offering positions as security guards, with pay ranging from 4,000 to 12,000 pesos per week. Those interested were summoned to various bus stations, from where they were taken to the training center at the Izaguirre Ranch.

Lastra is also responsible for the kidnapping of two university students in June of last year.

Sources El Pais, Proceso, Zeta Tijuana, La Silla Rota

Categories: CJNG, El Sapo, mass graves