Politics: Exposure of extermination center, crematoriums rocks Mexico
In a country not lacking in political, economic, and social scandals, Mexican society was jolted by news of the discovery of an extermination center in Teuchitlan, Jalisco on March 8. Photos of clandestine crematoriums, graves containing charred human remains, and hundreds of personal objects such as shoes evoked images of Nazi extermination camps. Hundreds of youth, mainly young men, had been lured with promises of well-paying jobs, and had been held captive and subject to grueling military training for their future use as members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Those who failed to meet the mark or refused to participate were killed and their bodies destroyed.
But this was just the tip of the iceberg. The gruesome phenomenon is national in scope, with similar discoveries over the years in states such as Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Baja California, Coahuila and in other parts of Jalisco. The discoveries reflect the growth and intensification of violence. The fragmentation of criminal organizations coupled with the expansion of illicit business operations (drug trafficking, fuel theft, extortion, robberies of all kinds, etc.) and López Obrador's permissiveness in relation to organized crime, has led to an increase in violence associated with disputes over the control of areas where all illegal markets operate.
Indeed, it is estimated that there are around 250 criminal gangs including the six drug trafficking cartels that were declared terrorist organizations. The deaths of many cartel members and others being put out of commission have driven the criminal organizations to step up recruitment, if necessary through the use of violence, to replenish their ranks. Another factor fueling violence is the flow of weapons into Mexico from the United States that wind up in the hands of drug cartels.
Homicidal violence in Mexico continues to increase despite methodological flaws in how its different categories are calculated by government officials. The sheer numbers are nothing short of terrifying: between 2007 and 2024 there have been 480,000 homicides and 57,000 individuals reported as missing, many presumed dead.
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