ZACATECAS, Mexico – A grim discovery was made in a remote area of Zacatecas, one of Mexico’s most violent states, on Wednesday. Six bodies and a severely injured survivor were found, believed to be the seven teenagers who were abducted over the weekend.
The teenagers, aged between 14 and 18, were reportedly enjoying a family weekend at a ranch in Zacatecas when they were kidnapped by armed men in the early hours of Sunday. The authorities launched a large-scale search operation involving 300 soldiers from the Secretariat of National Defense, the National Guard, and police officers from across Villanueva, the municipality where the crime took place.
The surviving teenager was found with serious head injuries but is currently in stable condition. The identities of the deceased have not been officially confirmed, but a government source, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to Reuters that the bodies are believed to be those of the missing boys.
The families of the victims held protests earlier this week, blocking the Zacatecas-Malpaso highway and demanding that the authorities find their children. “I want my son, I want my sons,” one mother was quoted as saying by Spanish newspaper El País. “We want them alive.”
The motive behind the kidnappings remains unclear, but local speculation suggests it could be linked to the violent criminal gangs that plague the state. Zacatecas is a hotbed for rival criminal gangs who frequently clash over lucrative smuggling routes. Government data reveals that more than 500 people were murdered in the state in the first eight months of this year alone.
This tragic incident follows a disturbing trend of mass abductions of young people in Mexico. In August, five young men were brutally murdered by a Mexican drug cartel in the neighboring state of Jalisco, their final moments captured on camera and circulated on social media.
The bodies found in Zacatecas will be transported to the state capital for identification. This grim discovery marks yet another tragic outcome in a year marred by mass abductions and brutal violence against young people in Mexico.