Breathe
By Sonia Serrano
On Sunday, October 15, the group Mothers Searchers of Jalisco reported through a video that they had located a clandestine oven in the municipality of Tlaquepaque, which could have been used to burn human remains.
Indira Navarro, leader of the collective dedicated to the field search, based her statement on the skeletal remains found at the site, along with some of the men's clothing.
The video shows the oven still burning and fractions of bones on the floor. The place, known as El Barrancón, was reached by an anonymous call.
Neighbors of the area have given their testimonies to reporters who have gone to the site in the hours since, assuring that the furnace was working "day and night" and that the movement is strange, that it smells of burnt hair and that motorcycles are hovering. Also that they have noticed the presence of municipal police. All statements are anonymous, as they know the risk they are running.
The place where the oven was found is located next to the Artesanos de Tlaquepaque neighborhood, on the outskirts of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Zone. It is a popular area.
On Monday, October 16, the Special Prosecutor's Office for Missing Persons confirmed the discovery of bones in the vicinity of the kiln, so they began a search.
According to authorities, the site was used as a garbage dump. Personnel from the Prosecutor's Office and the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences began the collection of skeletal remains for specialized experts to determine if they correspond to human beings.
As in other parts of the country, in Jalisco the search efforts have been left practically under the responsibility of the collectives. In the state, they do so in spite of the Jalisco government's determination not to answer anonymous calls.
This decision was made by Governor Enrique Alfaro last July, after an explosive attack in which four police officers and two civilians were killed. The authorities' version was that they had come at the request of a member of a collective who had received an anonymous call, although it was later confirmed that she was a public official of the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, where the events took place.
In spite of this determination, the Mothers Searchers of Jalisco collective, headed by Indira Navarro, decided to continue with its work, after evidencing the inconsistencies surrounding the state government's decision on the alleged anonymous call in Tlajomulco.
Jalisco is the first place in the country in missing persons and also occupies the first place or one of the first in the different counts of clandestine graves and bodies rescued from clandestine graves. Findings like this Sunday's are one more piece in the puzzle of this tragedy.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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