At least 59 remains were found in unmarked graves in Mexico, and most of the bodies belonged to young people.

The bodies were discovered in Salvatierra's municipality at Guanajuato state. This area has become one of Mexico's most violent places because of a turf war between drug cartels.

The drug cartels allegedly involved were Santa Rosa de Lima and Jalisco Nueva Generacion. The two cartels were not only engaged in illegal drugs but also fuel trafficking.

Over 2,200 murders were recorded in Guanajuato state during the first eight months of the year.

According to a BBC News report, the discovery came after families of missing persons raised the concern to the authority. Karla Quintana, the head of Mexico's National Search Commission, said at least 10 of the victims were women.

Over 80 people joined in locating the graves after the authorities were informed of the possible location. However, it is not yet clear who provided the information.

Search commissioner Hector Diaz said that a total of 52 excavations were done before the bodies were discovered. 

Guanajuato

Guanajuato is also notorious for violence brought by gang wars. Earlier in July, gunmen entered a drug rehabilitation center in Irapuato, Guanajuato.

The gunmen killed 24 people during the incident. It happened after a similar attack on a rehabilitation facility in the same city less than a month before.

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised to abolish all gang violence in the country. In 2019, Mexico's national murder rate reached an all-time high.

Murder Rates

In June, a BBC report showed that 2020 could become the bloodiest year on record if the trend continues in the first four months.

On June 7, a total of 117 murders were recorded in just a day, which makes it the country's most violent day of the year.

Criminal gangs have focused on low-level cartel food soldiers and high-profile political figures too. There have been both mass killings, as well as planned assassinations.

Falko Ernst, a senior analyst at Crisis Group, said it is a cost that Mexico is now paying for years and years of continued, almost perfect impunity in the country.

One of the most daring attacks in Mexico took place in the neighborhood of Lomas de Chapultepec in Mexico City. The gunmen reportedly disguised as construction workers and attempted to assassinate the city's police chief, Imar García Harfuch.

Three people were killed in the incident. One of those was a woman who was on her way to work.

Harfuch survived the assassination attempt after he was shot three times. He later blamed the incident on Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the same group involved in one of the recent shooting sprees.

Ernst said one of the underlying problems is the inability to determine the state's security forces and which belongs to the organized crime.

"Even though the Jalisco Cartel has publicly declared itself as an enemy of the state, there are still a lot of shady ties with fragments of the state, including at the federal level," Ernst noted in a report. 

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