Rescue in Mexico rekindles fears of CJNG forced recruitment

The rescue of four young men from a property in Zapopan, on the outskirts of the Guadalajara metropolitan area, has revived fears of forced recruitment by organized crime groups in the Mexican region — a nightmare that has become particularly acute in Jalisco following the discoveries last year of the Izaguirre and La Vega ranches. Two of the rescued men are minors. The local prosecutor’s office told EL PAÍS that the other two, both adults, had been reported missing.

The rescue took place on Sunday morning. The Mexican Army arrived at a property near Lomas de Tesistán, on the edge of Zapopan, a semi-rural area north of the Bosque de la Primavera forest, close to the highway leading to Tequila and Tala, at the heart of the Valles region. Mexico’s Defense Ministry has not officially commented on the operation, though a spokesperson confirmed that military personnel took part in the rescue. The ministry has not explained how authorities learned that the men were being held there or what became of their captors. Some local media outlets reported that troops exchanged gunfire with the kidnappers before rescuing the victims.

Despite reports circulated on Sunday, the Jalisco Attorney General’s Office has denied that the property functioned as a call center for extortion schemes. Authorities have also not clarified whether the four men — who were found tied up and beaten — were victims of forced recruitment by a criminal organization.

“They were deprived of their liberty last week, on Thursday,” a spokesperson said. When asked about the case, the collective of relatives of missing persons known as Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco (the Jalisco Searching Warriors collective) said little information was available and that it does not know the victims’ families.

The case has rekindled public fears of forced recruitment, a practice commonly associated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which has long maintained one of its main strongholds in the Valles region. In early 2025, Guerreros Buscadores discovered a property in Teuchitlán, not far from Tala, known as the Izaguirre ranch, where the CJNG trained forcibly recruited members — young people lured from across Mexico through social media and enticed to Jalisco with job offers that were usually false.

The discovery drew increasing attention amid suspicions that the ranch had also been used as an extermination site for recruits who disobeyed orders, deserters and others. The large number of clothing items found there, along with the remains of several bonfires, fueled those suspicions. Although it has acknowledged that killings took place at the ranch, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government and the Security Cabinet have denied that the Izaguirre ranch operated as an extermination camp.

Around the same time, the CJNG ran another similar training facility known as La Vega ranch, which was not far from Izaguirre. In January 2025, authorities rescued nearly 40 people from the site. They had been held against their will as part of the cartel’s recruitment and training program. Initially, however, some of those rescued were mistaken by authorities — particularly by the Mexican Army, which led the operation — for members of the criminal group. Several later alleged mistreatment and torture by the soldiers.

The latest rescue in Zapopan, along with several cases of missing young people reported in recent weeks in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, the region’s main tourist destination, has heightened concern across the area. Since February and March, the CJNG had appeared weakened, first by the death of its supreme leader, Nemesio Oseguera, known as “El Mencho,” in a military operation, and later by the capture of one of his top lieutenants, Audias Flores, alias “El Jardinero.” Events on the ground, however, suggest that the group remains resilient and retains its status as the dominant criminal organization in the region.

During the Izaguirre ranch crisis, authorities mapped out the CJNG’s criminal structure in the Valles region and along the corridor connecting Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Although the Security Cabinet dismantled parts of that branch of the organization, its leader, Gonzalo Gaytán, alias “Rana,” remains at large. The death of El Mencho and the capture of El Jardinero have shaken the cartel’s leadership, elevating figures such as El Mencho’s stepson, Juan Carlos Valencia, and Gaytán himself.

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