Human rights agency: 696 bodies foundin mass graves in Mexico since 2017
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission says the discovery of 166 bodies in a field in Veracruz state brings to 696 the total number of corpses found in mass graves since the beginning of 2017.
The government rights agency says 163 clandestine burial pits have been found, mainly concentrated in states like Veracruz, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Zacatecas and Jalisco.
The commission said the existence of such burial pits shows the lack of effective law enforcement. The mass graves are often dug by drug and kidnapping gangs to dispose of the bodies of their victims or rivals.
The pace of such discoveries does not appear to have slowed much since the height of Mexico’s drug war. The commission said that between 2007 and 2016, 3,230 bodies were found in mass graves.
Thursday, investigators found 166 skulls in clandestine burial pits in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, one of the biggest mass graves discovered so far in Mexico.
Investigators said the bodies were buried at least two years ago and did not rule out finding more remains. Veracruz was the scene of bloody turf battles between the Zetas and Jalisco drug cartels, but the state also suffered waves of kidnappings and extortions.
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