Two farmworkers walk through the community of Emiliano Zapata, unaware that just a few meters away—in the area known as El Cocuital—at least 17 bodies lie buried in a clandestine grave located within a ranch used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Veracruz is once again being singled out as an epicenter for disappearances and clandestine burial sites. It is a situation that search collectives warn is being replicated in municipalities such as Almagrés, Sayula de Alemán, Coatzacoalcos, and Playa Vicente.
What does this case reveal about the region? Stay with us to find out. The discovery was triggered on January 30, 2026, when police found Antonio Escobar Torres—a 30-year-old electrical technician—wounded and bearing signs of torture; he subsequently died.
His case—along with the disappearance of businessman Jorge Luis Colmenares, reported just days earlier—led federal authorities to pinpoint the ranch in El Cocuital, where excavation efforts uncovered multiple bodies. Most of the remains were recent, bringing the initial body count to 17.
Local business owners indicate that the site was used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel to hold victims of extortion or kidnapping. They denounce the fact that the criminal group operates with impunity, replicating violent practices—such as the extortion of protection fees—ever since their arrival following the departure of the Zetas cartel.
In this zone, armed squads carry out kidnappings while traveling in convoys, and many of those who go missing never return. According to official data, nearly 50 disappearances were reported in the region in 2025 alone. The case of Carla Moreno—a radio host and digital media reporter—served to starkly highlight this violence.
Her partner, Antonio Escobar, along with businessman Jorge Luis Colmenares, were both abducted by an armed criminal cell. Escobar was found dead in the mass grave, while other bodies—such as that of Daniel Valerio Silvano, a 19-year-old taxi driver—have also been identified.
Meanwhile, Haltipan—a community sustained by commerce and agriculture—continues to go about its daily life amidst the aftermath of this grim discovery. Gildardo Maldonado Guzmán, the municipal mayor and a former federal agent, acknowledged that the problem of organized crime dates back years and that combating it is the responsibility of all three levels of government.
Search collectives—such as the one led by Belén González, the mother of a victim of forced disappearance and a searcher since 2015—insist that this discovery comes as no surprise.
They are demanding access to the ranch to verify that exhaustive searches are being conducted, as they fear that more bodies may be present. They point out that disappearances continue despite official rhetoric and that the problem persists throughout the entire region.
Source: Milenio
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