Mexican beach known as gangsters’ dump site

The Mexican beach where the body of a slain Canadian student was discovered last week appears to be the latest mass burial site for victims of local organized crime, a state official is reported to have said on Thursday.

The bodies of 39-year-old Carmen Ximena Osegueda Magana — who went by the name Ximena Osegueda — and her male friend, Alejandro Honorio Santamaria, 38, were found on a beach in Santa Maria Huatulco on Dec. 27.

Santa Maria Huatulco is a town in the southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The two were on vacation there when they went missing on Dec. 14.

Manuel de Jesus Lopez, the attorney general in Oaxaca, told local reporters that the bodies were found partially buried on a beach, according to a Jan. 4 news report from Mexican newspaper Milenio.

Lopez said both appeared to have been stabbed in the neck and set on fire, the newspaper reported.

On Friday, the CBC reported that Jacy Wright, the ex-husband of Osegueda, was one of the people who discovered her body on the beach. The couple had been married for 12 years but remained on good terms. Wright had flown to Mexico to take part in the search after Osegueda was reported missing.

Wright told the CBC that Osegueda’s hands were bound behind her back and that she had been stabbed. The beach, he said, was apparently a popular dumping spot for people killed by gangs in the region, according to residents of the area.

He told the CBC that he believes the dumping ground was being covered up to protect the tourism industry in Mexico.

Days before the grisly discovery, Lopez said more human remains were found in a plastic bag on the same beach. The body was identified as Jesus Alberta Altamirano, an alleged drug dealer, added Lopez.

Milenio reported that bodies have been found buried in other beaches as well, including that of a tourist who was attacked by gunmen.

No details are mentioned on that tourist’s name or nationality.

Osegueda, a native of Mexico City, was finishing her doctoral degree in French, Spanish and Italian studies at the University of British Columbia, said a university spokeswoman, Lucie Mcneill.

“We received notification from her family that (Osegueda) went missing, and that subsequently she died,” Mcneill said.

Osegueda’s blog said she specialized in colonial Latin American literature, with a focus on Mexico. She earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Mcgill University in Montreal.