MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican court on Tuesday sentenced 10 men to 141-year prison terms each for their involvement in a ranch in the western Mexican state of Jalisco that was used by a feared cartel to recruit members, kill and disappear victims.
The discovery earlier this year of the Izaguirre ranch, used by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel for recruitment and training since 2021, had sparked alarm and fear across the region.
The 10 men were arrested in September 2024 during an initial raid on the property. They were convicted on Monday in the disappearance and murder of three victims. On Tuesday, each was sentenced to 141 years and three months in prison, and ordered to pay 1.3 million pesos (about $65,000) in restitution to the victims' families, the local prosecutor's office said.
Five other suspects detained in the case are still awaiting trial, including three municipal police officers, a CJNG operative who allegedly recruited new members, and José Murguía Santiago, the mayor of Teuchitlan, the municipality where the ranch is located.
Murguía Santiago was arrested just days after Mexico’s Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero revealed that since 2021, the Jalisco state Human Rights Commission had alerted Teuchitlan authorities about the ranch being operated by CJNG, but the warning was ignored for years.
The case had sparked a major controversy after Guerrero Buscadores de Jalisco — a group that searches for missing persons — reported in March 5 the discovery of numerous charred human bones and hundreds of clothing items and shoes at the site.
The shock brought back into the spotlight stark violence and rampant impunity in cartel-plagued parts of the Latin American nation and the tragedy of the investigations into Mexico's 130,000 missing people.
Following that report, it emerged that Jalisco’s state prosecutors had not moved forward with the investigation for several months after the initial raid on the ranch, when the National Guard intervened and arrested the 10 men. During that operation, one body and two of the men later detained were found on the ranch.
Due to missteps and omissions by state authorities, the federal Attorney General’s Office took over the case — but criticism persisted.
At the end of April, Gertz Manero dismissed claims that cremation sites existed at “Rancho Izaguirre,” fueling backlash from activists. The group Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco responded, saying it had recovered “17 sets of charred human bone remains” from the site, which are now in the custody of forensics teams.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
FILE - Police stand guard outside the entrance of the Izaguirre Ranch where skeletal remains were discovered in Teuchitlan, Jalisco state, Mexico, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandra Leyva, File)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
