The bodies of 15 men have been discovered in 11 hidden graves in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, a region rocked by ongoing violence between notorious drug cartels, local authorities said on Sunday.
The secret graves were found during a city raid on two properties in the city of La Concordia, northeast of Mexico's border with Guatemala, Chiapas Gov. Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar wrote on social media.
The governor added that four people were arrested in connection with the case, and multiple weapons, vehicles and drugs were confiscated.
“We will continue the process. For now, we are restoring calm and social peace in the region. We will not take a single step back! Calm hours will return in Chiapas! Peace is everyone’s mission,” Ramírez Aguilar wrote.
The first of the two sites raided had three bodies in three graves, the State Attorney's Office said in a statement. The majority of the dead were in the second estate, where authorities found 12 bodies in only eight graves.
And just last week, another hidden grave with burned bodies was found in Emiliano Zapata, which is just outside La Concordia, Chiapas Attorney General Jorge Luis Lavin Abarca said last week. He was unable to provide details due to the terrible condition in which the bodies were found, making it difficult if not impossible to identify the deceased.
Ongoing cartel disputes over drug routes, migrant smuggling and weapons smuggling have displaced more than 10,000 people over the past few years, according to reports by humanitarian organizations.
A turf war between the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels has led to entire families being slaughtered and villages forced to choose a side in the conflict. Many Chiapas residents have fled to Guatemala to escape the seemingly never-ending violence.
Meanwhile, Chiapas has recently seen an influx of thousands of migrants from Central America, Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela as they head to the United States.
Newly elected Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has promised to follow the policy set by her predecessor and mentor, former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which is not to confront drug cartels.
With mail wires.
