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| Almost 3,000 fragments of human remains found on ranch in Veracruz. Location of Lime Ranch, in the municipality of Tlalixcoyan, adjacent to the municipality of Tierra Blanca, where five young people were disappeared by state police on Jan. 11. On Monday, Feb. 8, investigators announced the identification of remains of two of them, found on the ranch. |
Rancho El Limón [The Lime Ranch] in Veracruz, where the remains of two of the five students who were disappeared on January 11 were discovered, was used by organized crime, with the possible complicity of security forces, to disappear the bodies of hundreds of people taken hostage over several years. This in addition to other crimes.
That is the initial determination of the investigation being carried out by state and federal authorities after the discovery of nearly three thousand fragments belonging to hundreds of bodies on the ranch, located in the municipality of Tlalixcoyan, in the south of the state of Veracruz.
Sources with full access to the open file in the Office of the Attorney General of Veracruz revealed to Animal Politico that this number of fragments were collected in the El Limon ranch during three days of forensic work by state experts and Scientific Division of the Federal Police.
The key to finding such residues at the ranch, which was found thanks to citizen complaints, was that large quantities of sand and dirt had recently had removed, apparently using heavy machinery.
Dogs trained in the location of human remains marked areas where the fragments were found and thus the work could begin.
"The experts in forensic anthropology were working three days in the area to recover and then process the parts that have been found. This was a site that was being used for various activities for which other investigations are being opened," the source told Animal Politico.Among the fragments collected are pieces of bone and other objects in which human material, such as blood, is present. The problem for the experts is that many of the fragments found are in a state of significant deterioration, making it difficult for them to be processed and identified with conventional forensic methods. For example, most bone fragments were calcified.
Because of this, it has not been possible to determine exactly how many bodies are represented by the three thousand fragments found at the ranch, but officials estimate it could be hundreds of victims. So far, from a couple of bones and a bloodstain, it was possible to identify two victims among the five young people missing from Tierra Blanca.
The hypothesis of the Veracruz prosecutor and the National Security Commission, which is providing the experts, is that the victims were taken to the ranch. There, they proceeded to burn their bodies and then to grind the remains before finally burying them.
Yesterday, Deputy Secretary for Human Rights of the Secretariat of Government Relations, Roberto Campa, confirmed that the ranch was used for mass disappearances.
"There was almost artisanal expert work. Sifting through remains that were charred and then were eventually ground up, as in a conventional cremation (...) all this discovery was made with very careful forensic work; there are 40-hours of work videotaped, all using totally technical equipment and trained dogs." the federal official said.
MV Note: The Mexican government is sensitive to criticism of its forensic work, after severe criticisms by two international teams of experts of its handling of remains found in relation to its investigation of the disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa normal school students in Sept. 2014.Spanish original
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