The discovery of an extermination and forced labor camp run by the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG) has sparked national mourning in Mexico and underscored the group’s brutal recruitment methods.
Mexico’s Security Minister Omar García Harfuch announced at a press conference on March 24 that a CJNG member identified as alias “El Comandante Lastra” was arrested for his alleged involved in the group’s forced recruitment activities.
According to García Harfuch, El Comandante Lastra is linked to the CJNG training and extermination site uncovered on March 5 by Guerreros Buscadores, a civilian collective that searches for missing people. The site, located at Rancho Izaguirre in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, contained human remains and over 400 items of clothing. The group also claimed the site housed clandestine crematoriums.
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The discovery horrified the public and sparked controversy among authorities. The Jalisco Attorney General’s Office initially denied that the site functioned as a crematorium, asserting instead that the ranch was inactive. This claim was based on a National Guard operation that took place six months earlier, during which 10 people were arrested for allegedly kidnapping two people being held on the property. At that time, government officials found no signs of criminal activity consistent with those discovered in March.
However, the civilian collective and several media outlets that visited the area reported otherwise. They found evidence suggesting the camp was still active and used for training CJNG recruits. The site included structures typical of military training grounds, such as shooting practice sheets and obstacle courses built from tires — features rarely found at other clandestine grave sites tied to organized crime.
Testimonies from survivors and relatives reported by local media said that some individuals held at the site had been kidnapped, while others arrived voluntarily but were then forced into training regimes. Those who survived were allegedly sent to different regions of the country to join CJNG hit squads.
The federal investigation into the ranch is still in its early stages. Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office has only stated that previous government investigations at the site failed to follow due process.
Forced disappearances remain a massive human rights problem in Mexico, with over 110,000 people officially listed as missing. Jalisco has become one of the epicenters of the trend. Between December 2018 and February 2025, authorities discovered 186 clandestine graves in the state, containing at least 2,000 bodies. Official records show some 11,688 people are currently missing in Jalisco alone.
InSight Crime Analysis
The Rancho Izaguirre case illustrates the CJNG’s systematic approach to expanding its ranks.
It is not the first time such camps have been found. In July 2017, authorities discovered similar CJNG training sites in Tala, Jalisco, during a search for six missing people. As with Rancho Izaguirre, the sites featured areas for physical training and shooting practice.
Jorge Ramírez, a professor and researcher at the University of Guadalajara, told InSight Crime that other suspected training camps may exist in Tapalpa, Puerto Vallarta, and Lagos de Moreno — all in Jalisco. These may form part of a broader network established to meet the group’s demand for hitmen as it expands.
CJNG forces include both civilians and former military personnel, and the group often relies on intimidation and coercion to bring in new recruits.
“[The CJNG’s tactics] are based on threats against family members, who are ultimately used as leverage to detain people,” Ramírez said. “The threat to family is the key element that seals the recruitment.”
The group also uses deception — promoting fake job offers with the promise of good pay and improved living conditions. Those who respond often end up forcibly disappeared.
This pattern has been especially prevalent in Jalisco, the CJNG’s stronghold and a state where disappearances have surged since 2021.
Some official investigations have documented these recruitment methods. In March 2016, authorities uncovered a front company run by the CJNG called Segmex, which posed as a leading private security firm in Jalisco. The company offered jobs with a weekly wage of 3,000 pesos (around $149), and higher pay for applicants with police or military experience. In reality, these offers were a ruse to recruit people into the cartel.
In 2018, a CJNG member was convicted for the forced disappearance of six people in Puerto Vallarta. One survivor testified that he had been lured by a job offer, only to be drawn into the group after his family was threatened. The man responsible received a four-year prison sentence.
In 2019, another survivor described how he had accepted what he thought was a job as a security guard in Villahermosa, Tabasco, for 3,500 pesos per week (around $173). He was picked up at a bus terminal along with 19 others, only to find out en route that they were being recruited by the CJNG.
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Civil society and local media have also shed light on the issue. In 2024, 30 young people disappeared after attending fake job interviews in San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Jalisco.
“[Using fake job ads] is a smart recruitment method—especially when the positions are for security guards,” said Ramírez. “It allows the CJNG to target people who are already familiar with violence or aspire to engage in it.”
Main image: Police guard the entrance to Rancho Izaguirre in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, Mexico, March 11, 2025. Credit: AP Photo/Alfredo Moya .