Thousands of Mexicans took to the streets on Saturday to demand justice following the horrifying discovery of charred bones, shoes, and clothing at a suspected drug cartel training ground in Jalisco. The protests, held in multiple cities including Mexico City, Tijuana, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosi, highlighted the country’s ongoing crisis of cartel violence and mass disappearances.
Families of missing persons, alongside activists and human rights groups, led the demonstrations, calling for government action and accountability. The Guerreros Buscadores collective, a group dedicated to finding missing individuals, described the site as an “extermination center” with “clandestine crematoriums.” The grim discovery has once again underscored the brutal reality of cartel-related violence in Mexico.
In the capital, protesters placed candles and rows of shoes in honor of the victims. Aurora Corona, 58, whose son disappeared in March 2023, tearfully expressed her frustration. “I came to speak out for my son and for all the disappeared. Hopefully, they’ll pay attention now that they see the horrors of the country we live in,” she said.
The crisis of enforced disappearances in Mexico has reached alarming levels, with over 124,000 people officially registered as missing, mostly since 2006 when the government launched a war on drug cartels. Jalisco, a stronghold of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), has been particularly affected. Since October 2023, search groups have uncovered six other clandestine crematoriums in the state, highlighting the extent of criminal impunity.
The United Nations Human Rights Office condemned the recent findings, describing them as a “deeply disturbing reminder” of organized crime’s grip on the country. Shockingly, the same site in Jalisco had been previously raided by authorities in September 2024, but crucial evidence was overlooked, raising serious concerns about government negligence.
For demonstrators like 22-year-old student Juan Carlos Perez, the revelations were a wake-up call. “At first, I thought, ‘Ah, another one,’ but then I realized it could have been me, my dad, or my mom,” he said.
As protests grow louder, families of the disappeared continue to demand justice, hoping that their voices will finally be heard in a nation plagued by violence and impunity.
