Los Negritos, Death Row Extermination Center in Michoacán

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

Just on this property of the so-called Corridor of Death, the State Prosecutor's Office has found the human remains of 23 people, the FGR of two more. 

On June 17, the Michoacán Prosecutor's Office unearthed the first bodies from the property known as Los Negritos, located at a corner of the municipalities of Villamar, Sahuayo, Jiquilpan, Venustiano Carranza and Tangamandapio, which make up one of the main epicenters of violence in Michoacan.

The so-called Corridor of Death crosses the municipalities of Cotija, Jiquilpan, Sahuayo, Marcos Castellanos, Villamar, Venustiano Carranza, Briseñas, Pajacuarán, Vista Hermosa, Chavinda, Tangamandapio, Jacona and Zamora.

Now, in that region of Michoacán (Lerma-Chapala), violence has increased because two internal cells of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are fighting each other.

Intelligence areas explained that the split of the CJNG, and the war in turn of one of these groups with their antagonists from the United Cartels, have triggered crimes.

Just on this land alone the Los Negritos property, the FGE has found human remains of 23 people and the Attorney General of the Republic discovered two more.

Of the 25 victims, seven have been identified by their relatives, the rest remain unknown despite the fact that many families have gone to see the bodies.

For the relatives of the disappeared persons, the first clandestine grave dug on that property by the authorities also opened up great hope.

They hope to find in that place the bodies of their loved ones, abducted by organized crime, 7 to 8 years ago up until today. 

THERE ARE TOO MANY BODIES

The Collective "San Pedro Caro, in Search of Angels" estimates that in the Los Negritos property alone there are more than 500 people murdered and clandestinely buried.

A member of that group and a resident of the municipality of Venustiano Carranza spoke to LA SILLA ROTA, but requested anonymity for security reasons.

His son was kidnapped in 2019, his brother and his nephew, a year and a half later, since then he has not stopped looking for them.

The day laborer believes that his loved ones are buried in Los Negritos, it has been for years a place of extermination and clandestine burial of organized crime.

My son, I can almost tell you, is buried in Los Negritos, because the truck that picked him up headed that way. The same goes for my brother and his son.

"That place is very dangerous and there are too many bodies there, because the thugs took over that property from 2012-2013 to make it their slaughterhouse," he says.

He remembers that before, Los Negritos was a tourist area, since then no one entered, except for the criminals who turned it into a clandestine cemetery.

The relatives of the victims say they are not interested in who are the armed groups that operate in that region and are responsible for the kidnappings and disappearances.

What we just want is to recover the bodies of our relatives and bury them. We don't want those responsible, we seek our victims.

He asked that the authorities be in solidarity with the relatives of the victims. He accused, that when they file their complaints they question them as if they were the criminals.

THERE ARE MORE THAN 2 THOUSAND DISAPPEARED IN THE REGION

Isis del Rocío Macías Gracián, founder of the collective, estimated that based on information from the families themselves, there are more than 2,000 missing people in the Lerma-Chapala region, abducted by organized crime.

She reported that only in the Los Negritos property there are over 500 people illegally buried; however, she lamented her, that not all the bodies are going to be recovered.

This, she explained, because that ecological park is in a geothermal and semi-volcanic zone, where some bodies were thrown into the hotbeds.

She highlighted that the Collective "San Pedro Caro, in Search of Angels" was the forerunner of the search for disappeared persons in other properties and now in Los Negritos.

She recalled that they had been trying to enter that former tourist center for more than 18 months, in which there are at least 100 or 150 clandestine graves, but they were prevented.

She said that the authorities argued that they could not enter to look for bodies because Los Negritos was private property, which was not true.

This ecological park belongs largely to the municipality of Villamar and the rest to the municipalities of Sahuayo, Jiquilpan, Tangamandapio and Venustiano Carranza.

He emphasized that the tiredness of families with victims of disappearance led them to demonstrate and take to highways, until almost a month ago, they turned to see them.

The Prosecutor's Office, with the support of the state and federal commissions for missing persons, entered the place and began the excavations and discovery of bodies.

Isis del Rocío acknowledged that, since then, they have not been allowed to enter that property, but that they are kept up to date on the work that is being done there.

She reported that, so far, 25 bodies have been recovered, of which only seven have been identified and claimed by their families.

Personnel from the Michoacán Prosecutor's Office, supported by elements from the State Public Security Secretariat, municipal authorities and rescue forces, remain at the scene.

This, despite the stalking and siege of armed groups at the service of organized crime.

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