A group of activists discovered a cartel-connected killing field near the Mexican border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. In an abandoned property, activists found more than 14 separate burn sites, metal drums, and hundreds of bone fragments.
The discovery occurred on Sunday afternoon in the Arcos neighborhood in Reynosa. Members of the group Colectivo Amor por Los Desaparecidos (Love for the Missing) searched the property and almost immediately discovered charred bone fragments.
The group is made up of volunteers who search for mass graves and abducted individuals in hopes of finding closure for the victims’ families. According to the group, they found 17 clandestine gravesites in and around Reynosa since the start of the year. Once the group finds the remains, they turn the scene over to the state authorities, who document the crime scene and begin forensic work.
In the most recent discovery, the group reported the finding of what appear to be 14 separate burn sites, a large metal drum believed to have been used to incinerate people, and hundreds of bone fragments.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office issued a statement claiming that there was no cartel killing field but that it was, in fact, the site of a funeral parlor that was in the process of being built and was abandoned. The Tamaulipas government has a long history of lying in an attempt to hide the cartel violence plaguing the state, Breitbart Texas has reported.
As Breitbart Texas reported, the city of Reynosa is controlled by the Metros faction of the Gulf Cartel, which is linked to hundreds of kidnappings, murders, and forced disappearances. The Gulf Cartel has used similar killing fields in the past to dispose of their victims as a way to avoid drawing too much attention to their operations. Without a body, Mexican government officials do not document the cases as murders and simply list them as missing. These stats are usually left out of their crime reports, thus allowing government officials to claim to have a low crime rate artificially.
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.
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