Mexico rescues eight from clandestine clinic run by violent Jalisco cartel

Federal and state authorities in Jalisco say they uncovered a hidden clinic on a farm in Tecalitlan where eight people believed to have been forcibly recruited by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel were being held. The site was discovered during an investigation into a 20-year-old man who went missing in late July after leaving Tlaquepaque to take what he had been told was a job at a farm. Prosecutors released images of the facility showing dimly lit rooms with mattresses on the floor and heavily stained walls; one photograph included a cap bearing an image of Jesus Malverde, a folk figure often associated with traffickers. Jalisco state prosecutor Salvador Gonzalez said the property functioned as a shelter for people who had been forced to work for organised crime and who required medical recovery after being injured in those activities, and that the victims had been deprived of their freedom. Authorities reported seizing illegal drugs and narcotics as well as weapons and ammunition at the scene. Six people believed to have acted as guards were taken into custody; their ages were reported as between 21 and 48. Two of the rescued individuals were using crutches when found. Officials and analysts note the case resembles an earlier 2025 discovery of a suspected CJNG training camp at a ranch in Teuchitlan, also in Jalisco, where civilian searchers uncovered clothing, luggage and human remains and the probe led to more than 40 arrests. The episode comes amid a national missing-persons crisis — an estimated 134,000 people are thought to be missing in Mexico — and follows a recent government announcement that more than 1,700 social media profiles used to post fake job offers had been disabled to curb recruitment into criminal groups.