PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) – More than a week after the initial disappearance of eight young workers at a call center in Zapopan, Jalisco, the case continues to be shrouded in mystery, leaving families distraught and demanding answers. The Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office has made little progress in the investigation, according to the relatives of the missing individuals.
Last Thursday, investigators found the remains of bodies at the bottom of the Huentitán Ravine, west of Guadalajara, near where the workers vanished. Preliminary reports confirmed that these remains belonged to some of the missing persons. No further details were disclosed, fueling suspicions of the involvement of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, known for its incursion into the phone scam business.
A Week of Disappearances, Questions, and Investigations
The string of disappearances began with Carlos Benjamín, a 31-year-old call center employee who was declared missing on Saturday, May 20. Itzel Abigail, 27, and her brother Carlos David, 23, were declared missing two days later. That same day, search files for Jesús Alfredo Salazar, Arturo Robles, and Mayra Karina Velázquez, also came out. The last of the eight, Sandra Anali Ramírez, 33, disappeared on May 29. All were coworkers at the call center, claiming to their parents that they were selling vacation packages to foreigners.
When authorities entered the call center, they found marijuana, blood, profit targets, names of foreign individuals, and cut cables, implying illicit activities. Governor Enrique Alfaro expressed concern about a possible link to “organized crime,” although no specific cartel was named. He disclosed discussions with the national Public Security Secretariat and the United States, but without further clarification.
Link to a Phone Scam Ring
Shortly after the disappearance of the call center workers, the Jalisco prosecutor, Luis Joaquín Méndez, announced one line of investigation suggesting that the call center was involved in offering timeshares to foreigners. This revelation coincided with a report from the US Treasury Department that exposed a network of companies linked to the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel engaged in phone scams, specifically targeting retired Americans for fraudulent timeshare deals.
Despite the mounting evidence suggesting the young workers were defrauding foreign tourists, the Prosecutor’s Office has yet to establish a formal link between the call center and the criminal group.
The scammers reportedly lured victims with unsolicited offers to buy their timeshare properties. After securing an agreement, they demanded upfront payments to cover supposed fees and taxes to speed up the sale. Once the payments were made, the fraudsters vanished, leaving the victims without a buyer or their money, according to a Treasury Department press release.
In another scam, real estate companies sold units in timeshare developments that were never constructed due to either the companies disappearing or the projects being deliberately planned in protected natural areas and later canceled. Victims were never refunded.
These timeshare scams often target individuals seeking retirement or vacation properties abroad, providing the CJNG with revenue streams beyond traditional drug trafficking activities.
The CJNG’s involvement in the timeshare fraud is just one facet of their broader engagement with the tourism sector in Puerto Vallarta, which has proven lucrative for the group for years.
Hotels, bars, restaurants, and timeshares are especially appealing as they offer opportunities for various other criminal activities, including money laundering, human trafficking, and drug trafficking, according to the source consulted by InSight Crime.
While the latest sanctions focus on scam operations, drug trafficking organizations are often involved in legitimate construction projects as a means to launder money. The high-traffic tourist area of Puerto Vallarta offers a solid opportunity for criminal groups to launder investments through the construction of housing developments or residential complexes.
Discovery at the Ravine
As the days passed and families grew increasingly desperate, an anonymous tip led authorities to the Huentitán Ravine. There, in an area difficult to access, the dismembered bodies were found forty meters deep. The remains were placed into approximately 50 black bags and airlifted out of the ravine.
On Friday, officials confirmed that “some” of the remains matched the characteristics of the missing workers. They are now awaiting forensic analysis to confirm the identities.
As the case continues to unfold, families of the missing individuals demand transparency and swift action from the authorities. Beatriz Robles, sister of one of the disappeared, lamented the overwhelming number of missing persons cases that have gone unresolved in Jalisco, a state that accounts for more disappearances than any other in Mexico.
This disturbing case underscores the larger crisis of disappearances in Mexico, a nation grappling with staggering rates of violence and impunity. As of now, the families can only wait for the completion of forensic analysis, hoping that it will bring some measure of closure and justice.
PUERTO VALLARTA (PVDN) - More than a week after the initial disappearance of eight young workers at a call center in Zapopan, Jalisco, the case . . .
