High Country News

The job was Gustavo’s idea, and the escape was his idea, too. “If he kills us, he kills us,” he told his kid brother, Iván, one night after work in October 2019. They had spent the day in the ranch’s corrals, selecting the best lambs for slaughter. Their boss, they said, carried a gun at all times.

This investigation was produced in partnership with High Country News and the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN). Illustrations by Zeke Guzman.