Mexican Attorney General Says There Were No Cremation Furnaces At Infamous Cartel Training Ranch

Having taken over the investigation related to the Izaguirre Ranch —a property in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, allegedly used by the Jalisco cartel as a confinement, training and extermination center— Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero told reporters that there are no signs inside the property that prove clandestine cremation furnaces existed within the property's walls.

"We had a soil test done involving stone and construction materials around the entire building to determine if there had been sufficient trace of bodies being cremated, but we did not find any," Gertz Manero said during a news conference.

The official went on to say that "we have asked the laboratories at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to confirm or correct this information, and that is what I am going to be sharing with you."

Gertz Manero did tell reporters last month that human remains had been found and confirmed as such by forensic experts. "As of right now, there are human remains," he said on March 19.

Gertz Manero's comments echo those made by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in recent weeks, suggesting the property was used as a training facility by the criminal organization, not as an extermination center.

"Based on the investigations that we have, it is known that the property was used as a training center, you all saw it," Sheinbaum said. "If there were people who lost their lives there, that is something the Attorney General's Office needs to find out," she added.

Recent comments by Mexican officials contradict the stories of volunteers that first discovered the ranch, as well as testimonies shared by survivors ever since the news broke on March 5.

Indira Navarro, leader of Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco, said in an interview last month that she received an anonymous call from a woman who said she had been held against her will at the property for three years and confirmed the existence of the cremation furnaces.

"She told me that the cremation furnaces have been operating for more than 10 years. Everyone there knew about it but could not say anything as they were threatened by cartel members," Navarro said.

While federal investigators continue unveiling the secrets behind the Izaguirre Ranch, a Jalisco cartel spokesperson said in a video last month that Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco exaggerated their findings, seeking to give them a bad reputation.

"Your duty was to inform authorities. What you did was plant and create a horror movie in order to create a controversy in social media," the man said. "What are you hiding? Why are you trying to harm the Jalisco cartel with lies and fabricated, unfounded stories?," he added.