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Associated Press
09-07-2025
- Associated Press
A Mexican court sentences 10 men to 141 years each in a cartel-run recruitment ranch
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican court on Tuesday sentenced 10 men to 141-year prison terms each for their involvement in a ranch in the western Mexican state of Jalisco that was used by a feared cartel to recruit members, kill and disappear victims. The discovery earlier this year of the Izaguirre ranch, used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel for recruitment and training since 2021, had sparked alarm and fear across the region. The 10 men were arrested in September 2024 during an initial raid on the property. They were convicted on Monday in the disappearance and murder of three victims. On Tuesday, each was sentenced to 141 years and three months in prison, and ordered to pay 1.3 million pesos (about $65,000) in restitution to the victims' families, the local prosecutor's office said. Five other suspects detained in the case are still awaiting trial, including three municipal police officers, a CJNG operative who allegedly recruited new members, and José Murguía Santiago, the mayor of Teuchitlan, the municipality where the ranch is located. Murguía Santiago was arrested just days after Mexico's Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero revealed that since 2021, the Jalisco state Human Rights Commission had alerted Teuchitlan authorities about the ranch being operated by CJNG, but the warning was ignored for years. The case had sparked a major controversy after Guerrero Buscadores de Jalisco — a group that searches for missing persons — reported in March 5 the discovery of numerous charred human bones and hundreds of clothing items and shoes at the site. The shock brought back into the spotlight stark violence and rampant impunity in cartel-plagued parts of the Latin American nation and the tragedy of the investigations into Mexico's 130,000 missing people. Following that report, it emerged that Jalisco's state prosecutors had not moved forward with the investigation for several months after the initial raid on the ranch, when the National Guard intervened and arrested the 10 men. During that operation, one body and two of the men later detained were found on the ranch. Due to missteps and omissions by state authorities, the federal Attorney General's Office took over the case — but criticism persisted. At the end of April, Gertz Manero dismissed claims that cremation sites existed at 'Rancho Izaguirre,' fueling backlash from activists. The group Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco responded, saying it had recovered '17 sets of charred human bone remains' from the site, which are now in the custody of forensics teams. ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at

Associated Press
07-07-2025
- Associated Press
Boxing great Julio César Chávez defends son arrested by US immigration agents
MEXICO CITY (AP) — As a professional, Julio César Chávez fought 115 times in the ring. Now, the former world champion said he was ready to fight outside of it to defend his same-name son, who was arrested by U.S. immigration agents at his Los Angeles home for overstaying his visa and lying on a green card application. The 39-year-old Chávez Junior also has an active warrant for his arrest in Mexico for alleged arms and drug trafficking and suggested ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. 'It's complicated, there's a lot of talk, but we're calm because we know my son's innocence,' the elder Chavez told El Heraldo newspaper. 'My son will be anything you want, anything, but he is not a criminal and less everything he's being accused of.' Alejandro Gertz Manero, Mexico's Attorney General, said on Sunday that the investigation against Chávez Junior started in 2019 after a complaint filed by U.S. authorities against the Sinaloa Cartel for organized crime, human trafficking, arms trafficking, and drug trafficking. 'He knows a lot of people, we live in Culiacan, it would be impossible not to know all of the people that are doing illicit stuff, but that does not mean nothing,' Chavez said. 'In my time I met everybody, and they did not come after me.' Chávez senior was considered one of the best Mexican boxers of all time; a world champion at three divisions. In the 1980s and '90s he was a huge celebrity who mixed with drug dealers. He claimed in the past to have been friends with drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Gertz Manero said Chavez Junior's lawyers have requested at least five injunctions in Mexico, which have been rejected because the boxer is still in the United States. 'Lawyers in the United States are working to see if he stays there, and we're prepared if he comes here,' Chavez senior said. 'We'll fight under Mexican law if he's transferred here.' The son's arrest came only days after the former middleweight champion lost to influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a bout in Anaheim, California. The Department of Homeland Security said officials determined Chávez Junior should be arrested on June 27, the day before the fight. It was unclear why they waited to act for days after the high-profile event. 'Why did they let him fight? My son has been paying taxes in the United States for three years, and now in Mexico they're accusing him of money laundering,' Chavez senior said. 'Yes, he knows those people, but that doesn't mean I'm a drug trafficker. Let's trust the law.' ___ AP boxing:


CBS News
06-07-2025
- CBS News
Mexican city councilor gunned down during basketball game
A local Mexican government official was shot dead while attending an amateur basketball game after a gunman burst into a sports hall on Saturday, officials said. Families and children were gathered at the sports center in the violent state of Guanajuato, where Ignacio Alejandro Roaro, a city council secretary in Apaseo el Grande, was killed. The city council "strongly condemns the treacherous, despicable, and cowardly attack that occurred this Saturday, in which our colleague and friend, city council secretary Ignacio Alejandro Roaro, lost his life," it said in a statement. Local media said an armed man had been arrested. Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico's deadliest state due to gang turf wars. Criminal violence, most of it linked to drug trafficking, has claimed around 480,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and left more than 120,000 people missing. Much of the violence in Guanajuato is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation. The Jalisco cartel is one of several that have been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration. Guanajuato recorded more than 3,000 murders last year, the most of any Mexican state and accounting for 10.5 percent of the cases nationwide, according to official figures. The bloodshed has continued this year. In June, 11 people were shot dead and about 20 others injured in a shooting targeting a neighborhood party in Irapuato, about 50 miles west of Apaseo el Grande. A 17-year-old was among those killed, along with eight adult men and two women, the Guanajuato state prosecutor's office said, vowing that the crime would not go unpunished. A month earlier, investigators said they found 17 bodies in an abandoned house in Guanajuato. Just days before that, officials said gunmen opened fire and killed seven people, including children, in the same state, and officers found two banners with messages alluding to the Santa Rosa de Lima gang. In February, five women and three men were shot dead in the street in Guanajuato. The month before that, security forces clashed with gunmen in the state, leaving 10 suspected criminals dead and three police officers injured.