Live
Audio Only
All 69 bodies were adults, and some may have been there for over five years. President AMLO's administration vows to include families of victims in search and truth commissions.
Mexican authorities say they have found 49 clandestine graves with 69 bodies inside on a rural property in Colima state.
RELATED:
2 Migrant Caravans Detained at US-Mexico Border After Crossing
The State Prosecutor's Office says they are working to have all 69 cadavers identified through DNA and forensic examinations. The office also stated that around 70 federal employees have been put on the job to investigate the discovery located in a community just outside of Tecoman in eastern Mexico.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s (AMLO) Undersecretary of Human Rights, Migration and Population, Alejandro Encinas, said in a Feb. 12 online statement that it appears that no minors were found. The attorney general’s office of Colima revealed "there are several bodies that appear to have been there for five years."
Acompañamiento de #ComisiónNacionaldeBúsqueda, @SEGOB_mx @FGRMexico @FiscaliaColima @CEAVmex #comvictColima a familiares de desaparecidxs. La fiscalía local informó el hallazgo de 69 cuerpos en diversas fosas clandestinas en Sta Rosa, Tecomán. La búsqueda continúa. pic.twitter.com/C1IQLOVlSc
— Karla Quintana O. (@kiquinta) 13 de febrero de 2019
Accompanied by #ComisiónNacionaldeBúsqueda, @SEGOB_mx @FGRMexico @FiscaliaColima @CEAVmex #comvictColima and families of the disappeared. The local attorney general says it has discovered 69 bodies in separated clandestine graves in Santa Rosa, Tecoman. The search continues.
Encinas said that the findings were brought to light during two searches that both required warrants. During the first search 19 bodies were found in 11 pits, and in the second 50 bodies were found in 38 separate pits.
During a press conference on Feb. 5 to announce a plan to deal with the country’s homicide and missing persons crisis, Encinas stated that the country "is a huge clandestine grave" and acknowledged the “magnitude of the problem." He said the government is setting aside some 7 billion pesos to manage this humanitarian issue.
There are currently more than 40,000 disappeared in Mexico and over the past 12 years, 1,100 clandestine graves with some 26,000 unidentified bodies have been discovered.
On Monday, the undersecretary's office signed a decree agreeing to work with over 60 human rights and families-of-victims organizations to include families in strengthening government institutions that protect the living and human rights defenders. Encinas also agreed to include victms' family members in truth finding commissions regarding the disappeared and dead in Mexico.
Newsletter
