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Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico. Due to its economic power, which has attracted technological giants like Cisco, HP, Intel and Tesla; for its more than five million inhabitants; or to be the seat of the most powerful Spanish-language book fair in the world every year. But Guadalajara is also a place where the power of organized crime is capable of shooting down an army helicopter with cannon fire, bringing down the city center by blocking 39 roads at once, planning an ambush on a former prosecutor in broad daylight in front of a trendy restaurant, or being one of the epicenters of the country’s missing persons crisis, which already exceeds 125,000 cases.
These two faces of Guadalajara have been clearly represented in recent weeks. The capital, Jalisco, will be one of the sites of the FIFA World Cup that Mexico is co-hosting with the United States and Canada. Akron Stadium, a modern venue opened just over a decade ago and can accommodate nearly 50,000 spectators, will host several games as part of a million-dollar event. At the same time, in recent months, within a radius of just 15 kilometers around the stadium, dozens of bags containing human remains have appeared and will attract the attention of half the world this summer.
My colleague Erika accompanied one of the groups of researchers on one of their expeditions, this time led by the prosecutor’s office. It was in the municipality of Arroyo Hondo, 17 kilometers from Akron. There, in September, they discovered a clandestine grave, camouflaged in a former automobile workshop. The Jalisco Search Warriors collective arrived in front of the prosecution staff. “We came to check that they are doing their job. We shouldn’t be doing this, but we realized that we were finding graves, we were notifying the authorities and they were not doing their job,” one of the researchers told Erika as an excavator removed the earth.
So far, 47 bags containing human remains have been found in this grave. Previously, between February and September, another 270 bags containing human remains were recovered in Las Agujas, another area located in the vicinity of Zapopan. At the end of last year, in another clandestine grave in the Lomas del Refugio district, 19 kilometers from the stadium, at least 100 bags containing human remains were discovered. Another 89 bags at Nextipac, also 19 kilometers from the stadium. In total, the amount exceeds 500 black bags of horror.
Another member of the group of researchers explained what had been a painful routine for too long for them. “All these discoveries become relevant because they are linked to the World Cup. This is happening near a World Cup stadium! But for years, many graves have been discovered much closer to the stadium. In Jalisco, the missing have disappeared.”
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