A Mexican drug cartel allegedly tortured and killed recruits who refused to cooperate or tried to flee a training camp where bones and clothing were found, the government said Monday.
So far, however, there is no evidence that the ranch in the western state of Jalisco was used as an "extermination camp," Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch told a news conference.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the drug trafficking groups designated terrorist organizations by US President Donald Trump, tricked people with fake job adverts for positions such as security guards, Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said.
At the ranch in Teuchitlan, recruits changed into military-style boots and clothing, he told a news conference.
They were given firearms and other training before being assigned a position within the organization, Harfuch said, based on the testimony of an alleged cartel recruiter who was arrested.
"According to the detainee's testimony, they even took the lives of people who resisted the training or tried to escape, as well as beating them and subjecting them to some form of torture," Harfuch said.
The discovery of charred bones, shoes and clothing this month by a group searching for missing relatives at the Izaguirre Ranch caused shock in a country where more than 120,000 people have disappeared.
The New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch has described the ranch as an "apparent mass killing site."
Harfuch said that the government had confirmed that the ranch was used as a training center but so far "there is no evidence that it was an extermination camp."
Attorney General Alejandro Gertz last week vowed to uncover the truth about what happened at the ranch, following calls from the United Nations Human Rights Office and human rights NGOs for a transparent investigation.
He listed multiple flaws in the initial investigation overseen by local prosecutors, including a failure to thoroughly search the site last September when the military raided it following reports of gunfire.
According to the Jalisco state prosecutor's office, 10 people were arrested, two captives freed and a dead body found at that time.
