By Lizbeth Diaz
Mexico City (Reuters) – The group and authorities said Thursday that gunmen driving a motorcycle shot and killed two members of a civil search group that discovered a now-infamous site known as Mexico's “horror ranch.”
The Jalisco State Attorney's Office said in a statement that two victims, Carmen Morales and her son Jaime Ramirez, were shot and killed by two men on Wednesday night. The suspect has not been confirmed yet.
Morales and Ramirez are members of Guerreros Buscadores, a citizen search group in the western Jalisco state, which played a role in discovering what local media called “Horror Ranch” in March.
Searchers found hundreds of clothes and skeletal remains at the site of Teuchitlan, a rural area outside the state capital Guadalajara. Officials said the site is a cartel boot camp.
“Unfortunately,[Malales]has been threatened several times. … These things are happening.
However, the Jalisco State Attorney’s Office ruled out contact with the search team in its statement.
Morales and Ramirez have been searching for a relative who disappeared in February 2024.
Their death comes after the killing of another member of the search team. Teresa Gonzalez, who has been searching for his missing brother, was killed earlier this month, the group said.
Members of search groups for missing family members are often threatened, and rights groups claim that these criminal groups are mainly from criminal groups responsible for missing ones.
According to official data, Jalisco is one of the states with the highest number of missing persons reported. It is the base of the powerful Jalisco new generation cartel (CJNG) that authorities accused of forcibly recruiting young people.
More than 124,000 people have disappeared in Mexico, according to government data. Most cases are never resolved, and there is a deep distrust of the authorities among those looking for the missing.
(Reported by Lizbeth Diaz; Writing by Cassandra Garrison; Edited by Leslie Adler)
