The bodies of 15 people were taken out of the pits in the state of Chiapas in the south of Mexico. drug cartel violence.

In a post published in X, Chiapas state governor Eduardo Ramirez detailed the operation to restore stability in Freilesca, an agricultural region near Guatemala where rival cartels have been engaged in a turf war.

“Unfortunately, so far 15 bodies (have been found) in secret graves on two properties,” Ramirez wrote on social media on Saturday.

He added that weapons, vehicles and drugs were also seized and four people were arrested, although he did not say whether they were linked to the 15 deaths.

of Mexico cartel-related violence concentrated at or along drug trafficking routes, borders and ports of entry.

The state of Chiapas has been described by InSight Crime as a “major hub for drug and migrant smuggling”.

For the past two years, that Sinaloa and the Jalisco New Generation cartels in Chiapas have been embroiled in bloody turf wars that have included killing entire families and forcing villages into conflict, forcing hundreds of Chiapas residents to flee to neighboring Guatemala for their safety.

In 2006, Mexico launched its controversial crackdown on drugs, with more than 450,000 murders and tens of thousands missing, according to official figures.

famous Catholic priest Marcelo Perez in Octoberwho was an activist for indigenous peoples and agricultural workers, was shot and killed in Chiapas.

Peres, 50, received frequent threats but continued to work as a peace activist, rights activists say Peres did not receive the protection he needed from the government.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1, has pledged to follow the policies of her predecessor and mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, not to confront the drug cartels, a policy that has failed to significantly reduce violence.

Mexican authorities on Thursday discovered 12 bodies buried in secret graves in the northern state of Chihuahua.

Authorities found 11 graves containing 12 skeletons in the Ascens municipality near the US border, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.