Guadalajara (Mexico) (AFP) - Local authorities have discovered the remains of 35 people in mass graves in violent Jalisco state, on Mexico's central Pacific coast, officials said Saturday. Prosecutor Gerardo Octavio Solis said most of the bodies were located at a ranch in the town of Zapopan. Among the dead, "27 of the bodies had been tied up when killed. And we have two people identified at this time," Solis told a news conference. The number of dead could still rise as the forensics team wraps up processing of the site, he warned. "We are digging more than three meters deep. We are also using heavy machinery, with engineers to do structural calculations as we don't want to weaken some of the perimeter walls," he added. Solis said the skulls of seven other people and other human remains were discovered on the premises of a house located in Guadalajara, Mexico's second most populous city. Families with missing kin have rushed to authorities in Jalisco asking for details on the exhumations. More than 40,000 people have gone missing and are presumed dead since Mexico's war on drugs was militarized with federal troops in late 2006. More than 250,000 people have been killed in violent crime in Mexico since then, according to government data. The data does not say how many cases were linked to organized crime. Last year in Jalisco state alone there were 2,418 homicides. From January to March this year there were 720 murders in the state, official data show.<doc-sep>Mexican authorities confirmed the discovery of at least 35 bodies in a series of mass graves. Officials found the graves in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The state is controlled by the ruthless criminal organization known as Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion. Jalisco’s Attorney General Office confirmed the discovery of 35 bodies this week in three separate mass graves in the Guadalajara Metropolitan area, El Sol de Mexico reported. Guadalajara is the same city where in March, Mexican authorities found 19 bodies in a canal, Breitbart News reported at the time. According to Jalisco’s Attorney General Gerardo Octavio Solis Gomez, the bodies were found in four separate mass graves. Authorities searched the area as part of an ongoing series of murder investigations. In one mass grave in the Campanario neighborhood of the municipality of Zapopan, authorities found 27 bodies. Officials began the investigation in that area on Tuesday. So far, investigators have only been able to identify two of the victims. Authorities raided a house in the Quinta Velarde neighborhood of Guadalajara where they rescued 9 kidnapping victims. They also found seven human skulls. Police believe that the seven bodies are buried in a mass grave located on the property, El Sol de Mexico reported. Inside that property, authorities found acid and other corrosive materials that could have been used to dissolve victims. In a third investigation, the Mexican Army raided a home in the municipality of Tlajomulco. Investigators arrested four men and found one victim who had been buried on the grounds of that property. As part of the investigation, authorities also seized six SUVs that had been made to look like police vehicles from the Attorney General’s Office. Investigators believe that the cloned police vehicles were used to make the kidnappings look like police arrests. Jalisco is the main area of operations of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a drug cartel that made a name for itself as one of the most violent criminal organizations. The cartel recruited former military forces and Colombian terrorists as muscle and for their knowledge in the use of IEDs, Breitbart News reported. CJNG is one of the cartels that has drawn the condemnation of U.S. politicians who are looking to classify certain cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, Breitbart News reported. Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Border / Cartel Chronicles. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Border / Cartel Chronicles. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz, and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.<doc-sep>
Mexican investigators have discovered 35 bodies buried in and around the city of Guadalajara, state prosecutors announced over the weekend. The grisly discovery was another reminder of the undertaking facing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office in December. The new president promised to reduce the gang-related violence that was responsible for a record of about 29,000 murders in Mexico last year, according to Reuters. Prosecutors revealed Saturday that most of the remains were found buried at a ranch in Zapopan, a city in central Mexico next to Guadalajara. TRUMP DEFENDS NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION AT MEXICO BORDER, SAYS DEMS 'DON'T MIND CRIME' Among the dead, 27 had been tied up and two had been identified, the attorney general of Jalisco, Gerardo Octavio Solis, reportedly said at a news conference. Solis added that the number could still rise as the investigation continued. Solis said the skulls of seven other people and other human remains were discovered on the property of a house located in Guadalajara, Mexico's second most densely populated city. Solis added that another body was recovered from the Tlajomulco municipality, in Jalisco in central-western Mexico. EX-MISS URUGUAY FOUND DEAD IN MEXICO CITY HOTEL Investigators did not reveal how long they believed the 35 recently discovered bodies had been buried. Families with missing relatives reportedly rushed to officials in Jalisco asking for details on the bodies found. The state is home to one of Mexico’s most powerful and dangerous drug gangs, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP More than 40,000 people reportedly have vanished and have been presumed dead since Mexico's war on drugs was militarized with federal troops about 13 years ago. Lopez Obrador said he working to control the problem, but Reuters reported according to official data, murders in the first four months of his government surpassed those recorded a year earlier. The Associated Press contributed to this report.