32 mass graves containing 166 people discovered in Mexico
Mexican authorities discovered at least 166 bodies in a large cemetery in Veracruz state, suspected to have died during the purge of the former governor.
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Mexican officials work at the scene in Veracruz state. Photo:Reuters. |
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 graveyard 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 to be excavated on August 8, with one source saying hundreds of people were buried there. Winckler said investigators had found 32 mass graves, as well as 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 high-ranking officials have been charged with assaulting and kidnapping individuals who opposed the government during Duarte's tenure 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, pushing the once-wealthy state of Veracruz to 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 found in 2016, where 280 bodies have been recovered.
They said they had just been tipped off by drug traffickers about another mass grave near the scene, which could hold up to 500 bodies. It was not immediately clear whether this grave was the same cemetery that Veracruz authorities were excavating.
Violence has spiked in Mexico after the military deployed troops to fight the country’s powerful drug cartels. More than 200,000 people have been killed since 2006, including a record 28,702 last year.