Authorities in Mexico found dozens of bodies in secret graves

This file photo shows forensic personnel removing a body found in secret graves in the tourist city of Acapulco, Guerrero State, Mexico, June 22, 2015.

Authorities in Mexico have exhumed 32 bodies and nine heads from several secret graves in the southern state of Guerrero.

The remains were unearthed this week between Tuesday and Thursday from 17 holes near the village of Pochahuixco, part of the municipality of Zitlala, a violent region plagued by drug violence, officials said Thursday.

“The discoveries are terrible,” said Roberto Alvarez, a state security official in Guerrero. He added that the remains of the victims, which included 31 men and one woman, were taken to the state capital, Chilpancingo, to be identified.

Soldiers are going through the region looking for other possible hidden graves.

Criminal gangs often bury their victims in secret graves and authorities regularly find human remains hidden in pits across the country. Seventy five bodies were found from over three dozen hidden graves between late 2013 and early 2014 on the border between the western states of Jalisco and Michoacan.

A student walks past portraits of 43 missing students in front of a government building in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico in September 2015. (Photo by AFP)

The state of Guerrero, however, is one of the country’s more violent states and a major site of opium poppy plantation, with the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos drug cartels battling over turf.

The gangs are also engaged in other criminal activities than drug dealing, such as extortion.

Last weekend, at least 24 people were killed in the state. The bodies of nine men, including five that were dismembered, were found on a roadside. A dozen people were also last week abducted in another part of the state that has been hit by a rash of mass kidnappings for ransom.

A high-profile case of abductions and possible murder involving 43 students also occurred in Guerrero.

The Iguala case put the spotlight on the rash of disappearances in Mexico, where some 28,000 people have been reported missing since 2007, in addition to tens of thousands killed in connection with drug violence.

A grandmother cries during a demonstration in Mexico City today. The demonstrators mostly comprised of women travelling through Mexico to search for their missing relatives. Photo / AP

Families and friends of missing persons have uncovered clandestine mass graves containing 32 bodies and nine human heads in Mexico's violence-plagued southern state of Guerrero.

The remains were unearthed between Tuesday and Thursday in 17 pits on a hill in the village of Pochahuixco, part of the municipality of Zitla, a region beset by turf wars between drug cartels.

"The discoveries are terrible," Guerrero state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said.
The remains were taken to the state capital, Chilpancingo, to be identified, Mr Alvarez said in a statement. Soldiers are scouring the region for more hidden graves.

Drug cartels have been burying their victims in hidden graves across the country for years, and authorities regularly find human remains.

Last weekend at least 24 people were killed in the state. The bodies of nine men, including five that were dismembered, were found on a roadside.Guerrero is one of the country's most violent states and a major opium poppy grower, with the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos drug gangs engaged in brutal battles to control criminal operations that also include extortion.

Members of a caravan of Central American mothers hold photographs of their disappeared children during a demonstration in Mexico City today. Photo / AP

Last week a dozen people were abducted in another part of the state that has been hit by a rash of mass kidnappings for ransom.

Guerrero is also known for the disappearance of 43 students in the city of Iguala in September 2014, a case that drew international outrage and remains unsolved.

The Pacific resort of Acapulco, once a famous destination for Hollywood stars, is now considered the country's murder capital as the Beltran Leyva gang and the independent Cartel of Acapulco battle for supremacy.

The Iguala case put a spotlight on the rash of disappearances in Mexico, where some 28,000 people have been reported missing since 2007.

Frustrated by the lack of progress by the authorities, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of the disappeared have led their own searches across the country, learning to detect clandestine graves on their own.