Several hundred people are taking part in excavations on Ajusto Hill, south of Mexico City, where 130 to 150 bodies may have been buried, according to authorities.

Equipped with shovels, pitchforks, and machetes, 430 people are participating in excavations on Ajusto Hill, located south of Mexico City. The wooded area is close to the Mexican capital, but isolated. Some of these men and women are relatives of the disappeared, others are human rights activists and forensic experts. According to authorities, between 130 and 150 bodies may have been buried or hidden on this hill.

The number of missing people in Mexico is estimated at 127,000. Most of these disappearances have occurred since the beginning of the wave of violence in December 2006, when the federal government launched a military operation to combat drug trafficking.

Hundreds of graves and human remains

Hundreds of graves have been discovered across the country, including in Bartolina, in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, where authorities exhumed human remains between 2017 and 2021. Mexican authorities announced on Thursday the discovery of 48 bags containing human remains in a clandestine grave located on the outskirts of Guadalajara. The number of victims is not yet known. This clandestine grave was located four weeks ago by a search group on a vacant lot.

Dozens of similar cases have been discovered in the state of Jalisco, home to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, designated a "foreign terrorist organization" by the U.S. government earlier this year. According to Washington, this cartel, along with the Sinaloa cartel, is one of the main actors responsible for trafficking fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States.