Mexico: 456 bags of human remains found near Akron Stadium, site of the 2026 FIFA World Cup

Several groups dedicated to locating missing persons in Mexico have denounced the discovery of 456 bags containing human remains in the vicinity of the Akron Stadium, located on the outskirts of the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The sports venue will host several games of the next FIFA World Cup, to be held between June and July 2026 in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

José Raúl Servín García, a member of the search group Jalisco Search Warriors, confirmed the number in an interview with Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui. He said criminal groups operating in the area are behind these incidents.

"We have approximately 456 bags, more or less, in the vicinity of Akron Stadium, which is slated to be a World Cup stadium," said Servin Garcia. He added that "criminal groups have threatened the forensic experts because they decide which bodies to hand over and which ones they don't."

"Some families are threatened because one of their members works in forensic sciences," he stressed.

Servín García denounced a lack of transparency from Jalisco state authorities, arguing that "it does not suit them" that groups like his work "excavating and recovering" bags with human remains "so that the prosecutor's office and the forensic institute can do the removal."

Jalisco authorities, trained by France

With just a few months to go before the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, one of the issues to be tackled is security in Mexico in the face of the increase in crime perpetrated by organized groups and cartels.

To that end, Jalisco authorities have been receiving training from France's National Police for two weeks, AFP reported.

"The officers addressed in theory and practice how to prioritize mediation, dialogue and tactical control, pillars of a modern police force," said Juan Pablo Hernandez Gonzalez, Jalisco's state security secretary, after the training concluded. "If there are acts of violence or agitators who want to put citizens at risk, we will now have more tools to conduct preventive containment."

The European country's security forces, which had to reinforce their capabilities ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have now passed on that knowledge to the Mexican authorities.