32 mass graves containing 166 people discovered in Mexico

Veracruz province is located in eastern Mexico, with the capital of the same name being one of the country's largest port cities. Political corruption and power struggles between long-standing factions in the state have led to violent purges, according toAFP.

Jorge Winckler, the state prosecutor, announced yesterday that authorities had discovered at least 166 bodies in a mass grave site in the central part of the state. However, authorities are not disclosing the exact location for security reasons. Forensic analysts are working at the scene.

The cemetery began excavation on August 8, with one source saying hundreds of people were buried there. Winckler said investigators had found 32 mass graves and discovered 200 sets of clothing, 144 ID cards and personal belongings at the site.

"Based on forensic analysis, we determined that this clandestine burial site dates back at least two years," the state prosecutor's office said in a statement. Authorities used drones and ground-penetrating radar to locate the burial site.

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Artifacts collected at the mass grave. Photo:AP.

Former governor Javier Duarte is accused of being behind these mass purges. Duarte has been accused of human rights violations in Veracruz. Two former state police chiefs and several senior officials have been charged with assaulting and kidnapping individuals who opposed the government during Duarte's time in office from 2010 to 2016. The former governor himself is in prison awaiting trial. Prosecutors have added the charge of "organizing the liquidation of enemies."

"These mysterious disappearances were carried out on his orders," prosecutors charged in June.

Investigators also accuse the former governor of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds to buy luxury real estate, Miami vacation homes and thoroughbred horses, leaving the once-wealthy state of Veracruz on the brink of bankruptcy.

About 3,600 people have gone missing in Veracruz since 2006, according to the new government. Families of some of the missing are searching another mass grave discovered in 2016 and have recovered 280 bodies.

They said they had been recently tipped off by drug traffickers about another mass grave nearby that could hold up to 500 people. It was not immediately clear whether this grave was the same cemetery Veracruz authorities were excavating.

Violence has spiked in Mexico after the military deployed troops to fight the powerful drug cartels. Since 2006, more than 200,000 people have been killed, including a record 28,702 last year.