Nobody knows who buried the bodies, when the bodies were buried or even the identities of the bodies found bagged and discarded in various clandestine graves near Zapopan, Jalisco. What people do know is that there are too many unidentified bodies no further than a 13-mile radius from the Estadio Akron less than six months away from its opening match of the 2026 World Cup and three months away from hosting the final round of World Cup playoff qualifiers.
The morbid news isn’t particularly new, sadly. Stories of unidentified bodies near Zapopan (the Inglewood to Guadalajara’s L.A., to give you an idea of the layout) have been reported since 2018. What brought the news back into the spotlight recently was the appearance of the governor of the state of Jalisco Pablo Lemus in a government press conference on Nov. 27.
Lemus and two other heads of state joined President Claudia Sheinbaum to discuss the plans and events for World Cup hosting sites. Lemus was there to represent Jalisco and its capitol, Guadalajara, one of three tournament host cities. The following day, Juan Carlos G. Partida reminded readers of La Jornada that, as of publication, there were three active clandestine grave sites under investigation by authorities: one in Las Agujas near the Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias de la Universidad de Guadalajara (University Center for Biological and Agricultural Sciences of the University of Guadalajara), a second in Nextipac and a third in the residential suburb of Arroyo Hondo.
Human remains were first discovered in Las Agujas in February this year during construction of a new housing development, as reported in Proceso and in El País México. Recent reporting in El País México now puts that number at 270 bags filled with human remains at Las Agujas along with 47 bags in Arroyo Hondo, 89 bags at Nextipac and 100 bags at Lomas del Refugio where clandestine graves were discovered late last year. Human remains were also recently found in Santa Cruz de las Flores and San Pedrito, also on the outskirts of Guadalajara.
Back in mid-October, Mexico’s men’s national team played a friendly game against their peers from Ecuador at Estadio Akron. There wasn’t much of a peep from anyone outside the Associated Press and less than a handful of associated outlets about the authority’s handling of security during a game at the stadium amid the current situation in Guadalajara and Zapopan. As the big tournament draws nearer, so too does the scrutiny.
“All of these discoveries are suddenly relevant because they are being connected to the World Cup. This is happening near a World Cup stadium!” says Jaime Aguilar with Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco (Jalisco Search Warriors), a volunteer group that helps identify missing people and keeps tabs on the state government’s efforts to locate and identify missing people. “But for years, many mass graves have been found much closer to the stadium. In Jalisco, even the disappeared are disappeared.”
Animal Político reports that Zapopan mayor Juan José Frangie plans on meeting with FIFA Chief Tournament Officer in Mexico Jurgen Mainka this week to discuss the situation and alleviate any concerns he and FIFA may have.
“Nowadays, there is lots of talk about the existence of mass graves near the stadium; and by 'near' we mean some are 10 kilometers away, others 15 kilometers, others 20. It worries us, but often it's not in our hands, it's in the hands of the Prosecutor's Office because we don't know if those graves are from two, three, four, or five years ago,” he said.
We’re not sure how comforted people will feel to know that bags of human remains have sat near a popular sports stadium for possibly five years, but at least the mayor isn’t to blame! Meanwhile, the work to uncover and identify the buried and bagged bodies continues.
