Jalisco governor takes credit for discovery of burial sites

. . . as the fourth one is unearthed in the same neighborhood

Guadalajara -
In comments which will raise some eyebrows here, Jalisco governor Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz said the reason narco fosas, or organized crime burial sites, are turning up all over the state is because in his administration crime "is being investigated."

In the previous administration, he told reporters today, "there were no arrests, no intelligence, there was no information of any type." Sandoval was referring to former governor Emilio González Márquez, a member of Mexico's center right National Action Party (PAN), who left office on Feb. 28, 2013.

Sandoval, who has been in office exactly a year, is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of president Enrique Peña Nieto, which controls executive power in the country and holds many legislative seats at both the federal and state levels.

Since last November three mass burial sites have been discovered in the state, holding the decayed remains of well over 100 people. All were victims of the 87 month old drug war. Many have not been identified. Jalisco prosecutor reports narco grave near Guadalajara-Chapala highway.

In one case 20 police officers from neighboring Michoacán state have been charged with participating in the kidnapping and murder of 75 people, including two federal agents who vanished in November. All the victims' bodies were buried in an extensive network of grave sites east of Lake Chapala.

Over the weekend yet another such narco fosa was found in the community of El Salto, southwest of the tourist popular towns of Tonalá and Tlaquepaque, both famous for their artisan handwork. Six sets of human remains, all males with estimated ages of 18 to 45, have been recovered. Three died from gunshot wounds and three from beatings, according to investigators. Their bodies were placed in the grave over the past several months, a forensic examiner said.

Last year Gov. Sandoval asked Jalisco residents to "be patient while the drug cartels are finished off."

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