Illustration of a policeman in Mexico.

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Alfredo ESTRELLA / AFP

In Mexico, clandestine mass graves have been discovered in the state of Guanajuato, the government-dependent National Tracing Commission (CNB) announced on Wednesday.

They contain at least 59 bodies, including “young people”.

"We found 59 bodies in various underground graves, there are other points on which we continue to work," said Karla Quintana, head of the CNB from the municipality of Salvatierra, the grave discovery area.

"The vast majority of bodies seem to be young people, sometimes very young, including probably teenagers," she added at a press conference.

Eight other bodies found

The information of the discovery of a possible pit went back to the authorities about two weeks ago, the research work having been launched eight days ago, in partnership with the security institutions, at the level of the State as at the federal level.

More than 80 people were mobilized for this research and 52 excavations were carried out, allowing the discovery of the bodies, said the authorities.

A sign of the endemic violence that has plagued Mexico for nearly 15 years, eight other bodies, six men and two women - with their hands and feet tied, and riddled with bullets, were found the same day in Ciudad Juarez, a town in La border with the United States.

Violence in the state of Guanajuato has increased in recent months, due to a fight between the cartels of Santa Rosa de Lima and Jalisco Nueva Generacion, both involved in drug and fuel trafficking.

A resurgence of violence

Jalico Nueva Generacion is also responsible for the outbreak of violence observed in Ciudad Juarez, where the cartel operates alongside that of Sinaloa.

Sign of this upsurge, the attack by heavily armed men on a rehabilitation center for drug addicts, in the city of Irapuato, resulted in the death of 27 people on July 1.

In early August, the authorities of the city of Santa Cruz announced the arrest of the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, Jose Antonio Yepez, known as "El Marro" while his successor, Adan Ochoa was arrested in mid October in the region. from Laja-Baio.

Since the government of former President Felipe Calderon launched its war on drug traffickers in December 2006, more than 300,000 people have lost their lives in Mexico, according to official figures.

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