Mexico City, Mexico – Authorities in Jalisco, Mexico on Thursday confirmed that human remains discovered in plastic bags in the town of Teocaltiche belong to missing policemen.
According to local media reports, 12 plastic bags discovered on Wednesday on the side of a road contained the remains of four of eight police officers that went missing the day before.
Jalisco’s Governor Pablo Lemus first reported on February 19, that some of the discovered remains belonged to the missing officers, saying:
“We are still searching because probably five people could still be alive. This is the information we have so far, we have to remember that there are eight elements of the Teocaltiche police station and the driver who was carrying them, the investigation is being carried out,” he said before journalists.
On Thursday, authorities confirmed that the remains belonged to four of the nine missing people.
Jalisco has become a den for organized crime violence in recent years, with the country’s two leading criminal forces, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), battling for influence and territory.
The towns of Teocaltiche and neighboring Villa Hidalgo, on the border with the states of Zacatecas and Aguascalientes, are strategic for drug trade routes and have become a focal point for warring cartels.
Violence against authorities in these towns is not isolated, as cartels have co-opted police officers and use them as enforcers to secure their interests in the region.
Police officers in the area have become both victims and victimizers as a result.
Jorge Ramírez, a professor from the University of Guadalajara who researches forced disappearances in Jalisco, told Aztec Reports, “The police are the weakest link, and here is where the dynamics of cooptation and service to the cartel become much more apparent.”
He said that “the heads of the departments, as well as the police chiefs, are subservient” to cartels.
The co-opting of security forces put targets on the backs of policemen who are working for rival cartel factions. Since 2018, there have been 140 local and federal security forces killed in Jalisco and 35 are currently reported as disappeared, according to local news outlet Informador.
“At the municipal level, it seems that the entire police forces are co-opted, in a scheme where the commanders are also key,” said Ramírez. “They may even be people from the cartels themselves. And the foot police, let’s say the infantry, also receive a monthly amount,” he said, adding that many of these policemen have no choice but to accept the payment from cartels.
On Thursday, Jalisco’s government announced that 62 police officers are being investigated in relation to the disappearance of the policemen.
Cartels are targeting other government officials too. On February 8, the mayor of Villa Hidalgo’s wife was kidnapped by alleged CJNG operators. The abduction was reportedly meant to pressure the mayor to dismiss the current head of security in the municipality
“The cartel has a stronghold there and has waged a practically open war during all these years and has set the area on fire. The homicide and disappearance rates in the area are much higher than even in the Guadalajara metropolitan area,” added Ramírez.
Featured image credit: via Secretaria de Seguridad de Jalisco
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