Overview

• The bodies of nine students, aged 19 to 30, were found dismembered in and around a car in San Jose Miahuatlán, near the Puebla-Oaxaca state border.
• Authorities discovered four bodies in the car's trunk, five under a tarp, and a bag containing eight pairs of severed hands at the scene.
• The victims, who were from Tlaxcala and vacationing in Oaxaca, were last seen on February 27 before being reported missing by their families.
• Mexican officials suspect cartel involvement due to the brutality of the killings, though no suspects have been identified, and investigations are ongoing.
• The case highlights ongoing violence in Mexico, where cartel conflicts have increasingly escalated, with 30,000 murders reported in 2023 alone.