Mexican security forces in the gulf state of Veracruz last week raided a remote ranch where the country’s most powerful cartel allegedly planned its operations and tortured and fed its rivals to alligators and lions.
The shocking discovery of the ranch – which seemed to take a page out of Pablo Escobar’s book – is located 130 miles from the port of Veracruz.
Military agents and police officers were met by two lions, five deers, an ostrich, a peacock, two pigs and alligators swimming in a lake in the zoo-like atmosphere inside Monterrico Ranch.
Mexican security forces raided a ranch connected to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel were their enemies were fed to wild animals, including lions
An alligator (pictured) swims across a lake at a ranch in Veracruz, Mexico, where members of the country’s fastest-rising cartel reportedly fed its rivals to the wild animal and two lions
A soldier guards a ranch in the Mexican Gulf state of Veracruz that was seized in a raid last week. The compound had a home with 20 air conditioned rooms and cages were wild animals, including lions, were kept
The ranch was operated by two siblings tied to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel features a two-story home with 20 air conditioned rooms, a refrigerated warehouse, a chapel and two gyms, including one that was located next to a cage that house two lions
The property, authorities say, is registered to Jacinto and Alberto Rodríguez, siblings who command Los Piñas Cartel, which reportedly has strong ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The cartel is led by Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, who is wanted by the Drug Enforcement Agency in the U.S., which is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Surveillance video showed the moment servicemen swooped in the compound, that according to officials on the ground, has 20 air conditioned rooms, one which was inhabited by children.
A member of Mexico’s security forces searches a children’s room at the cartel’s ranch located in Veracruz
Mexican security forces were surprised by a lion (pictured), one of two that were kept in a cage at a drug cartel’s ranch that was raided last Thursday
Pictured is one of two pigs that were wandering a ranch registered to Jacinto and Alberto Rodríguez, siblings who command Los Piñas Cartel, which reportedly has strong ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Chickens scattered from cages as the military men searched the premises and tried to knock down the entrance to the room.
The raid took place last Thursday, a day after the Drug Enforcement Agency announced the arrest of more than 600 individuals connected to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel following a six month investigation.
The ranch, according to Mexican news outlet E-Consulta Veracruz, has a two-story home with a giant antenna that allowed the cartels to communicate via radio with their operatives along the Oaxaca-Veracruz state borderline.
The security forces unearthed a small chapel and a refrigerated warehouse located in the middle of the ranch alongside three broken down, abandoned vehicles.
Authorities estimate the home at the ranch is big enough to house at least 50 people
Military agents and police officers were met by two lions, five deers, an ostrich, a peacock, two pigs and alligators swimming in a lake in the zoo-like atmosphere inside Monte Rico Ranch
Authorities estimate that at least 50 people could have lived at one time at the ranch, whose owners made sure theirs guest kept in shape in two gyms, one which was located next to a cage where the lions were kept.
The ranch, E-Consulta Veracruz reports, could have been the last place where a family of four were last seen.
According to investigation reports, Heriberto Ortiz , 59; his wife, María de Jesús Octavo, 49; and their children, Daniela del Carmen Ortiz, 23, and Carlos Alberto Ortiz, 25; were kidnapped by armed men in the Veracruz municipality of Isla on November 18, 2019.
Cartel leaders left behind several broken down vehicles at a ranch that was raided by the Mexican military last week
Surveillance camera inside a ranch that was seized last Thursday in Veracruz, Mexico, shows the moment military agents stormed the compound which is suspected of being used by the most powerful Mexican cartel to allegedly torture and kill its rivals
Distraught family members allegedly called Heriberto Ortiz and the phone’s GPS led them to the ranch’s location.
‘A few days later I heard the alleged perpetrators behind the disappearance had a place with a lizard farm or something like that in Azueta and that they were moving around Playa Vicente, Azueta and all the nearby ranches,’ one of the parents said.
Their bodies have not been found yet.
Belén González, head of the Search for Missing Persons Group, called for the Veracruz state attorney general to order a thorough search of the entire ranch, have the lake completely drained and remove all of the animals.
An ostrich stands behind a fence at the Monterrico Ranch in Veracruz, Mexico