The arrest rejected Mexican President Sinbaum’s offer to send troops to Mexico to help fight drug cartels.
The mayor of western Mexico was arrested in connection with a stagnant investigation into a drug cartel training camp where human remains and clothing were suspected to be found last September.
The new generation of Jalisco cartel, a violent drug trafficking group, has been accused by Mexican authorities of running Rancho Isagir in Jalisco and training newly hired gunmen.
Santiago was arrested on May 3 as part of an investigation into the potential for local government omission or accomplice with Jalisco’s new generation cartel, a federal source told AFP Wire Service on May 3.
A relative, searching for a missing family, reported that he was turned over by anonymous sources about the site in March and went to the ranch where he found bone fragments and hundreds of clothes. Many people say that the farm is Mass murder site.
However, Attorney General Alejandro Ghatz Manelo told media last month that he could not confirm that there were human remains other than the first bodies found by the National Guard forces last September.
He also said that the state Human Rights Commission officially notified local governments of the ranch in 2021, but no action was taken.
According to the Jalisco prosecutor’s office at the time, authorities arrested 10 people, released two hostages, found one body, and described the ranch as a cartel training site.
Investigators, armed with backhoes, dogs, dogs and devices, searched the site were present at the ranch to investigate, but the surgery stalled without explanation.
After receiving anonymous tips,News reports show that Jalisco Search Warriors Group visited Teucitlan Ranch, located about 37 miles from Guadalajara in March. Due to cartel violence and crime, aiding has remained a problem in Mexico, with many people found vanishing or dying.
The group said they found a backpack, dozens of shoes, a pile of clothing and what appears to be a fragment of human bone. The disturbing findings sparked anger within Mexico, urging Mexican federal government to take part in the investigation.
Following public pressure, the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office has agreed to publish online photos of shoes and other clothing found at the ranch so that families looking for relatives can see them. Manelo said fragments of evidence will also be made available to relatives.
However, members of Jalisco’s search warriors have expressed disappointment at Manelo’s official statement and response, saying there is ample evidence that the body was burned at the scene.
Group member Raul Sabin said in late April that the group’s compatriot Maria del Carmen Morales was killed after the discovery in March.
The discovery comes when President Donald Trump imposed tariffs to intensify pressure on Mexico, secure a US tropical border and counter fentanyl trafficking by designating several Mexican criminal organizations as terrorist groups.
February, The US State Department has designated Jalisco’s new generation, Sinaloa, the Gulf, Unity, Northeast Cartel, and Ranueva Familiar Michoacana, as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists.
US policy analysts say the cartels are acting as a shadow government within Mexico and will be difficult to dismantle them.
The Mexican president said he is willing to work with Trump to counter the cartels, but he has drawn a boundary line on allowing US troops in Mexican soil.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
