Mother recovers missing son in training camp discovery

AGUASCALIENTES, Ags ( Proceso ).– Revelations made during the hearing to link to the process of 18 young people detained in a federal operation, carried out on July 26 in the mountains of Pabellón de Hidalgo, municipality of Rincón de Romos, pointed for the first time to the existence of a “training camp” attributed to organized crime in Aguascalientes, an unprecedented event in the state.

News of the case (and the wave of violence it triggered) has shaken the state, which boasts of being one of the safest in the country.

The site was specifically named as a training camp by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office and the defendants' defense team during the court hearing held on August 1. Until then, authorities had not specified what type of space it was, although state prosecutor Manuel Alonso García vaguely stated that a criminal group was conducting surveillance at the camp.

The find included an arsenal of long-range weapons, cartridges, magazines, a grenade launcher, bulletproof vests bearing the acronym "CJNG," and a plastic bag containing a 742.5-gram block of cocaine hydrochloride; as well as personal belongings, food, kitchen utensils, and backpacks. Among those detained were two Colombians; one of them, according to his wife, also has Venezuelan nationality, as well as individuals originally from municipalities in Michoacán, Guanajuato, and Coahuila.

Among those arrested are two minors and at least four who had a recent missing person record: Felipe de Jesús Hernández Valdivia, 39, and Emanuel Núñez, 28, who disappeared on May 28 of this year under circumstances still unknown; Arturo Sebastián García Yáñez, 22, who disappeared on May 29; and Carlos Antonio Esparza Medina, 18, who disappeared on June 23.

Carlos Antonio had accepted a job as a staff member at a rehabilitation clinic in Guadalajara when his family lost contact with him, according to Cynthia Medina, his mother, who is part of the Collective Seeking People, Truth, and Justice.

On Saturday, when I saw the photo of the detainees, I saw it was my son," Mrs. Medina says, crying. "His eye was swollen. I felt happy knowing he was alive, that he was whole. I didn't know everything that was coming, I didn't visualize all the trouble he's in now, that they're treating him like a criminal. On Sunday night, I was able to see him for less than five minutes. He was badly beaten, unrecognizable, his swollen face was very dirty, very bad, and he was crying. Seeing him like that was the death of me. He told me that at the time of his arrest, he was unarmed.

Official versions of how the camp was detected differ: while the state prosecutor claims it was due to "anonymous complaints" received weeks earlier, the Federal Public Ministry stated that the operation was activated after a security helicopter was attacked from the camp.

Federal sources assured Proceso that the deployment was motivated by President Claudia Sheinbaum's visit to Zacatecas that same day.

The response to the discovery was a wave of violence across the state that took authorities by surprise. It included the burning of five convenience stores and a beer warehouse, as well as the torching of a dozen vehicles, including trailers, trucks, a public transport van, and an urban public transport bus.

The fires blocked three federal and other state highways. Two charred bodies were also reported to have been found on the border between the municipalities of Tepezalá and Pabellón de Arteaga, in the north of the state.

And although the State Public Security Secretariat and the local prosecutor's office announced the arrest of nine people for the violent incidents, only two are allegedly involved in the arsons. The remaining seven were arrested for possession of various quantities of drugs.

This violence, however, is not new. Since 2023 (the first year of the administration of PAN member Teresa Jiménez Esquivel), the population has experienced a surge in crime, with the crime incidence rate increasing by 72.1% and the crime prevalence rate by 28.4%, according to data from the National Survey on Victimization and Perception of Public Safety (Envipe).

The percentages placed Aguascalientes, for the first time, among the three states in the country with the greatest increases in crime rates.

Disappearances have also increased in the state, as have extortion and extortion.

According to the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons, cases increased in 2024, rising from 39 in 2023 to 135. So far in 2025, 73 cases have been reported. The majority are men between the ages of 15 and 49.

The municipalities with the highest figures are the state capital, Rincón de Romos, San Francisco de los Romo, and Pabellón de Arteaga.

Torture and neglect

Yuridia Bello Camacho, the district judge in charge of the charges, requested the opening of an investigation into the injuries sustained by the detainees, including burns and bruises to the face and body. One of them will be examined for possible serious kidney damage, and another was shot in the leg.

According to the young men's families, during the first part of the hearing, held early last week, it was reported that they were deprived of their liberty for two to four hours from their arrest until they were presented before judicial authorities.

Despite a request from the lawyer of one of the detainees to have nine state police officers, nine military personnel, and one member of the National Guard appear, all of whom he said were responsible for the arrests, none of them appeared to testify.

The detainees were charged with weapons stockpiling, possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the Army, possession of cartridges and magazines, criminal conspiracy, and crimes against public health; five of them have aggravating circumstances for allegedly shooting at federal agents.

During the hearing, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office requested that the detained youth be distributed among the federal prisons in Guanajuato, Michoacán, and Chiapas "given the circumstances of the events and their probable connection to a criminal group, to prevent them from taking control of the state prison." The request was granted by the judge. The deadline for the transfer is August 18.

This decision caused anguish among the families of the detainees, who face precarious economic conditions. Some mothers reported that their children had been reported missing for months, others that they had been lured with offers of employment as welders or balcony workers.

“How am I going to get to Chiapas? I don't even know where it is. We barely have enough money to maintain the house,” said Verónica Torres, aunt of 22-year-old Javier Zapata Solís, who before his arrest had been collecting plastic and other items from garbage containers to sell. She hadn't heard from him since May of this year.

Among the arguments for allowing the transfer to federal prisons, the judge detailed the failing grades the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has given to the Aguascalientes prison in the National Penitentiary Supervision Assessment, especially since 2022.

Among the points for which such ratings have been given are the lack of prevention of human rights violations and the lack of response when detected, overcrowding, and insufficient programs for prevention and response to violent incidents, among others.

These deficiencies were evident in 2023, when the alleged suicide of six inmates at the prison was reported. Earlier that year, the CNDH issued recommendation 252/2023 to the institution for "deficiencies in medical care for inmates, improper searches of visitors, and a lack of security personnel at the three penitentiary centers." But state authorities dismissed the recommendation as a political coup.

“Even you will be safer in a federal center; there are cameras everywhere,” the judge said.

Recruitment, a denied reality: Search Collective

Since the searching mothers identified their missing children in the leaked photographs of the operation and the list of names of those detained, which was also leaked, the Observatory of Social and Gender Violence (OVSGA), which supports the work of the Searching for People, Truth and Justice Collective, reported that in recent years they have received reports of young people who have disappeared after accepting a job offer.

“At the beginning of the year, we reported on forced recruitment, protection money, and security fees, which have been confirmed in places like the Agropecuario. Today, mothers are no longer just seeking help from forensic medical services, in the fields, or in the annexes; they also have to turn to the Judiciary or the Public Prosecutor's Office because their missing children or relatives, in addition to being victims of this type of violence that is the responsibility of the authorities, are being treated as perpetrators. We need a responsible and empathetic society that protects youth,” said Mariana Ávila Montejano, coordinator of the OVSGA (National Institute of Social Development), during a press conference attended by searching mothers.

"My son was taken from my house," she adds, "they destroyed it, they dragged him away, beaten. The prosecutor can't say there wasn't a forced disappearance, the prosecutor can't say it doesn't exist. The authorities know this perfectly well because we went to put the file in front of his desk, they know it. We can't turn a blind eye to a situation that's been seen all too often."

Olivia Muñoz Campos, mother of Edgar Alfredo Quezada Muñoz, who disappeared on September 27, 2022, maintains that her son's disappearance was not her own decision.

Lorena Guerrero Márquez, mother-in-law of Víctor Manuel Ocón Ramírez, who disappeared on December 13, 2023, also reported that unidentified men entered her home and took him away.

“Comrades from Michoacán, Jalisco, even Oaxaca, were asking for the names of the people who were detained. Disappearance is a serious problem in Zacatecas and Jalisco, but in Aguascalientes, the issue is rarely discussed; it isn't acknowledged. All the people who are recruited are also victims of a very serious problem affecting Mexico,” said Javier Espinosa, spokesperson for the Maverick Collective in Aguascalientes and coordinator of the National Union and Network for the Search for Persons, in an interview.

Despite this, the state prosecutor denied the problem, arguing that the young people decide to work with the cartels and disappear of their own volition, or that they decide to leave their homes without being forced.

However, the state prosecutor's office itself had previously acknowledged the problem.

Last April, Vicente Junior Acevedo Navarro, head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Disappearances and Location of Persons in Aguascalientes, revealed that two young men from the state accepted a false job offer and were taken to Nayarit, where they were detained.