Mexico’s government has not been keeping track of the various cartel killing fields, crematoriums, and clandestine graves used throughout the country by criminal organizations. The move points to a systemic effort by government officials to hide the true scope of the violence that reigns over the country, mainly due to the out-of-control public corruption.
The move is just another layer in the country’s government’s concerted effort to create the appearance that Mexico is safe. A recent investigation by Mexico’s El Universal revealed that no government entity in Mexico has statistics on the number of cartel killing fields, mass graves, and crematoriums.
As part of their investigations, El Universal requested information from Mexico’s Missing Persons Registry, which is a part of the Secretary of the Interior (Gobernacion), and also from Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office.
The questions over the number of killing fields and mass graves come just months after the discovery of a large-scale cartel killing field known as Izaguirre Ranch. Earlier this year, a group of activists searching for cartel victims discovered hundreds of shoes and personal items from cartel victims, Breitbart Texas reported. The ranch was used as a forced recruiting and training center for Cartel Jalisco New Generation. In the aftermath of the scandal, Mexico’s government tried to deny much of the horrors that took place there. Officials claimed that while the facility was a training center, it was not a killing field or an incineration site.
The case of Izaguirre Ranch is not the only of its kind, according to El Universal. Between 2011 and 2025, there were 12 cartel training centers and 17 camps in three Mexican states alone. Additionally, in 2023, Mexico’s National Serching Commission took down a database that had recorded 5,676 cartel mass graves throughout the country.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
