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Forensic workers indentify the first of 59 bodies in a mass grave discovered in one of the states worst affected by cartel violence Forensic workers have begun identifying 59 corpses from mass graves in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas in the latest atrocity to be uncovered in Mexico’s drug wars. Security forces found the graves on Wednesday while investigating reports that cartel hitmen in the area had been pulling people off buses, possibly in a forced recruitment drive. The discovery came as tens of thousands of people marched in simultaneous protests held in cities across Mexico demanding an end to the violence. The marches were prompted by the torture and murder of Juan Francisco Sicilia, the son of a well-loved poet, along with six other people with no links to the cartels. “This is a national emergency,” Sicilia’s father Javier said during the biggest of the marches held in the city of Cuernavaca, just outside the capital, where the murders took place. “Mexico doesn’t want to labour under this stupid war any more.” More than 35,000 people have died in violence related to the drug war since President Felipe Calderón launched a military-led offensive against the cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006. The government blames the death toll on a series of turf battles raging on different fronts across the country and involving at least six different cartels. It insists that the vast majority of the victims are associated with the gangs, and that the federal forces are having significant success in weakening them. Although Calderón accepts that civilians uninvolved in the drug war are also dying, he rejects growing demands for a change of strategy that formed one of the main themes of this week’s protests. “We should all join the condemnation of the violence generated by the criminals and the absolute conviction of the federal government to continue to confront criminality,” he said in a statement released in response to the discovery of the graves in Tamaulipas. The eight pits, one of which contained 43 corpses, were found not far from the ranch were 72 Central and South American migrants were massacred eight months ago . The state authorities said the first three to be identified from the latest grisly discovery were Mexicans, and that two were women. Social media buzzed with rumours that there were more bodies yet to be officially accounted for. “Tamaulipas has become a narcograve,” @algomendez tweeted on Thursday. The phrase was retweeted throughout the day, as residents described their sense of impotence in a state terrorised by a war between the Gulf and Zeta cartels which federal forces seems powerless to stop. The killings in Cuernavaca, meanwhile, have had a profound impact on the middle classes and the intelligentsia in and around the capital, who previously felt themselves somewhat immune from the violence. One banner in the Mexico City march read: “Today a student, tomorrow a corpse.” The six were killed on 28 March after leaving a bar in Cuernavaca. They had been reportedly talking about the violence that has shaken the area since last year, though it is still much more sporadic than in Tamaulipas. Local authorities said they had issued warrants for the arrest of two suspects who are former members of the security forces. Mexico Drugs trade Jo Tuckman guardian.co.uk