In recent days, authorities arrested at least three people in connection with the so-called extermination camp case in Jalisco, including an alleged Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader.
The arrests came more than two weeks after a collective that searches for missing persons found burnt human remains, bullet casings, hundreds of shoes and other personal items at a property in the municipality of Teuchitlán called Izaguirre Ranch.
Clandestine graves are frequently found in Mexico, but the discovery of what some media outlets have called an “extermination camp” where scores of people may have been killed and/or cremated shocked the nation and made headlines around the world. No victims have yet been identified.
The three people recently arrested in connection with the case are the alleged leader of a CJNG recruitment cell and two former police officers from Tala, a municipality in Jalisco that adjoins Teuchitlán.
At a press conference on Monday, federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch spoke about the arrest of the alleged CJNG leader and provided additional insight into the activities that allegedly took place at the now-notorious property in Teuchitlán.
The National Guard arrested 10 people at the ranch last September, months before the Warrior Searchers of Jalisco collective searched the property.
Alleged CJNG leader arrested in Mexico City
Federal security authorities announced the arrest of José Gregorio Lastra Hermida — allegedly a CJNG leader involved in the recruitment of cartel members — on Saturday.
Soldiers, marines and other federal security personnel detained Lastra, 51, and a 43-year-old woman who was with him in the Mexico City borough of Cuajimalpa, according to a joint statement issued by the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Navy, the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the National Guard and the federal Security Ministry.
The woman has been identified in media reports as alleged CJNG operative Abril Dianeh Robles Vázquez. She is also a CJNG recruiter, according to the Reforma newspaper, but it was unclear whether she faces charges in connection with the Teuchitlán case.
García Harfuch said on social media on Saturday that the arrest of Lastra was the “result of investigations” that began months ago.
At President Claudia Sheinbaum’s press conference on Monday, he said that Lastra is “one of the main collaborators of Gonzalo ‘N,’ alias ‘el Sapo'” (the Toad), who he identified as “one of the regional leaders” of the CJNG in Jalisco, Nayarit and Zacatecas.
“According to the information obtained, this person identified as ‘Comandante Lastra’ was responsible for recruitment for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and was in charge of the training center located at the Izaguirre ranch in the municipality of Teuchitlán,” García Harfuch said.
Resultado de investigaciones de gabinete y campo desarrolladas desde hace meses, en una acción de el Gabinete de Seguridad fue detenido en la Ciudad de México José Gregorio “N”, alias “Lastra”, líder de la célula delictiva vinculada al reclutamiento de personas para el CJNG.… pic.twitter.com/0pSFr3NhMA
— Omar H Garcia Harfuch (@OHarfuch) March 22, 2025
He said that Lastra allegedly recruited personnel for the CJNG between May 2024 and the beginning of March 2025.
“We have knowledge that José Gregorio … had a group of collaborators dedicated to the process of recruitment,” García Harfuch said.
The security minister said that Lastra mainly used social media to advertise “fake work opportunities,” adding that criminal activities were only mentioned in closed groups.
He said that some posts on social media advertised security guard positions with a salary of 4,000-12,000 pesos (about US $200-600) per week.
Applicants were summoned to different bus stations and from there were taken to the “training center” at Izaguirre Ranch, García Harfuch said.
Once at the ranch, the recruits were given training in the handling of firearms and in “physical conditioning,” he said.
Upon arriving at the property, the recruits were dressed in tactical gear and stripped of their cell phones, García Harfuch said.
He said that the training lasted approximately one month and the recruits were left “incommunicado” during that period.
“Depending on their aptitudes,” recruits were granted a position within the CJNG and “assigned to different entities” of Mexico “to increase the strength of the criminal organization,” García Harfuch said.
Citing the “testimony” of Lastra, he said that “people who resisted to receive the training” or “tried to escape from the place” were abducted, beaten and subjected to torture.
However, the security minister said that the ministry he leads and the federal government’s security cabinet had no evidence that the property was “an extermination camp” as has been claimed.
Rather, it was “a training center,” he said, adding that he didn’t have any knowledge of people having been killed at the property.
García Harfuch also cast doubt on whether human remains were in fact found at the ranch, saying that the Security Ministry hadn’t confirmed that to be the case.
“The Federal Attorney General’s Office will determine if there are remains,” he said.
García Harfuch said that through “intelligence work” authorities have also identified Lastra as the “mastermind” of the abduction of two university students in June 2024. He added that authorities have established that the suspect met with “el Sapo” — identified as Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytán in media reports — on March 10 in Puerto Vallarta and the latter ordered the former to “end the training activities.”
Lastra subsequently went into hiding in the municipality of Tala before traveling to Mexico City and “trying to hide himself in the capital,” García Harfuch said.
While his arrest was announced on Saturday, he was detained last Thursday in possession of a firearm, false ID and methamphetamine, according to Reforma.
García Harfuch told reporters that Security Ministry personnel had carried out a “search and analysis of profiles on social media related to the recruitment of people for their incorporation to organized crime activities” and “39 recruitment pages” were taken down from various online platforms.
“This review of different platforms is continuing,” García Harfuch said.
He said that 49 people related to “recruitment activities” for organized crime have been arrested since last September, including Lastra, the “leader of these operations.”
“These actions represent a significant advance in the clearing up of the events at the Izaguirre Ranch in Teuchitlán, Jalisco,” García Harfuch said, adding that the FGR will have access to “essential evidence” as a result of the arrest of Lastra.
2 police officers linked to Teuchitlán case in custody
The FGR said on Sunday that two municipal police officers from Tala who are “allegedly related” to the Teuchitlán case were arrested.
José “N” — identified as José Antonio Solís Nava in media reports — was detained on Sunday while Gabriel “N” was arrested on Saturday.
The FGR said that Solís was arrested for his “probable responsibility” for “the crime of enforced disappearance of people.”
Attorney general exposes failures of Jalisco authorities in ‘extermination camp’ case
The FGR said that the Jalisco Attorney General’s Office requested its support to execute a warrant issued by a judge in Tequila, Jalisco, for the arrest of Solís. The arrest warrant was executed in Colima city, the FGR said.
Gabriel “N” was allegedly involved in the enforced disappearance of two men who were rescued by the National Guard at the Izaguirre Ranch last September.
The 22-year-old former police officer was arrested in the municipality of Acatic, Jalisco, on charges of enforced disappearance, according to the Jalisco Attorney General’s Office.
At a press conference last week, federal Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero spoke about alleged collusion between municipal police from Tala and cartel members at the Izaguirre ranch. He also asserted that Jalisco state authorities were negligent in their investigation of the activities carried out at the property.
With reports from El Universal and Reforma
