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Last year, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, the authorities announced they had found a common grave filled with more than 250 human skulls.
At the time, the prosecutor Jorge Winckler told Televisa television that "once we have opened all the mass graves of the state, [Veracruz] could become the largest mass grave in Mexico or even in the world. "
On Thursday, Winckler announced that another mass grave had been discovered again in Veracruz. This time, more than 160 human skulls were found inside.
In Mexico, nearly 40,000 people are missing and about 30,000 people were killed last year. Violence in Mexico is widespread and Veracruz in particular has suffered bloodshed in recent years. Officials did not reveal the exact location of the grave, but speaking to reporters, Winckler said that in addition to human remains, investigators also found more than 100 maps of the area. identity on the site, as well as about 200 clothes. some of the victims can be correctly identified.
He also stated that they were using drones to search for more bodies and would attempt to match the site's DNA samples with those of a national database on missing persons in recent years. .
"The state has become a graveyard, it's the terrible and sad reality," Winckler told The Wall Street Journal, adding that out of 212 municipalities in Veracruz, mass graves had been found in more than half . State.
Authorities found the grave in August after receiving a tip, but they did not immediately inform the public because of security concerns. The last time such a grave was found, a group of mothers campaigning for the authorities to search for missing family members was also helped by anonymous informants: two men handed them a map indicating the Where the bodies were buried. At the time, the Wall Street Journal reported that the mothers themselves hired diggers to find the grave, and then persuaded the authorities to help them.
Drug cartels are thought to be behind murders and burials. For years, the cartels have operated in Veracruz and elsewhere in Mexico, targeting civilians and the police, who are sometimes accomplices of various criminal organizations. The victims may have been rival gangs, unlucky witnesses or refused to collaborate with criminal groups who later found them and killed them in retaliation.
Winckler told the paper that his office now knows "that government officials have collaborated with drug gangs to illegally arrest people from a rival group, torture them, and then kill and disappear them." In late 2016, the governor of Veracruz was Javier Duarte, who then ran after being accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the state. He is currently in prison while awaiting trial, as is former police chief Arturo Bermudez. Bermudez was charged with enforced disappearance. The remains of this tomb would be about two years old.
Roberto Campa, who at the time was Mexico's deputy interior minister for human rights, told the paper that last year it was announced that "something like this could not happen only by the complicity of the police ".
"There is no way to do this for so long without the police knowing it," he said.
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