Mexican President Says Another Cartel Ranch Seized Was Used To Train Recruits

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the La Vega Ranch, which has dominated headlines in the country, was used as a training camp by cartels.

Sheinbaum was asked about the facility as ranches of the kind are at the top of the agenda following the seizure of the Izaguirre Ranch, also believed to be a training camp where those who refused to comply were killed.

The La Vega ranch was detected in January, when dozens of people were liberated and two others detained and charged with keeping them captive. It is unclear whether the La Vega and Izaguirre ranches are tied to each other.

State authorities in Jalisco have officially completed the transfer of the Izaguirre Ranch to Mexico's Attorney General's Office. "At this point, the case is a federal matter now. The site is occupied by federal authorities and forensic experts are investigating the property to determine the reality of what is there," said Mexico's Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero during a press conference on Tuesday.

When asked by reporters if federal prosecutors would open an investigation against public officials, Gertz Manero said that they are already being investigated without providing further details.

"I will release all information that does not interfere with the integration of the files, I want to make that very clear," Gertz Manero said. "Everything that can be shared to establish with full precision what happened there, who is responsible, and who we are going to prosecute, all that information must be open... as long as this inclusion does not affect the outcome of the investigation, we will make it public," he stated.