Fifteen Mutilated Bodies Found In Western Mexico

[News_Editor]

Fifteen mutilated bodies found in western Mexico < br /> 2012-05-11 06:38:32 GMT+7 (ICT) GUADALAJARA, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- Fifteen mutilated bodies were found in two abandoned vehicles in western Mexico on Wednesday, officials said on Thursday, in what appears to be the latest violence as a result of the country's deadly drug war.The bodies were found by municipal police in two vehicles located about 50 meters (164 feet) from the kilometer 25 marker on the Guadalajara-Chapala highway in the municipality of Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, which is located in the state of Jalisco.Jalisco Attorney General Tomas Coronado Olmos, after a meeting with Governor Emilio Gonzalez, said most of the bodies inside the two SUVs were mutilated. All of the bodies belonged to male victims who have yet to be identified, but he said it appears the murders were an act of vengeance against an organized crime group linked to the northern state of Tamaulipas.Furthermore, Coronado Olmos said that on Tuesday morning, two people were able to escape from a residential house in the town of Ahuisculco in the municipality of Tala, where police later found at least ten other people, aged between 18 and 25, who were also being held captive. Security forces continued responding to the incident and, in search of the assailants, they found the two SUVs on the Guadalajara-Chapala highway. Two people were also detained, among them a 25-year-old woman who reportedly confessed to being a member of the Millennium Cartel.Investigations are ongoing, but authorities believe all of the victims and assailants behind both incidents are related.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-05-11

[ttelise]

Busy week in Mexico. 49 headless, handless, and feetless bodies along a road into town with gang grafitti on arch leading into town.

Authorities discovered the bodies before dawn yesterday lying in a pool of blood at the entrance to the desert town of San Juan, on a highway leading from the metropolis of Monterrey to the border city of Reynosa. A white stone arch welcoming visitors was spray-painted with black letters: "100% Zeta".

Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene said the 43 men and six women would be hard to identify. The bodies were being taken to Monterrey for DNA tests.

The victims could have been killed as long as two days ago at another location, then transported to San Juan, a town in Cadereyta municipality about 105 miles west-south-west of McAllen, Texas, and 75 miles south west of the Roma, Texas, border crossing, state attorney general Adrian de la Garza said.

He said he did not rule out the possibility that the victims were US-bound migrants, but it seemed more likely that the killings were the latest salvo in a gruesome game of tit-for-tat in fighting among brutal drug gangs.

"This is the most definitive of all the cartel wars," said Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University.

Mass body dumpings have increased around Mexico the last six months as the fearsome Zetas gang goes head to head with the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, led by fugitive drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Under President Felipe Calderon's nearly six-year assault on organised crime, the two cartels have become the largest in the country and are battling over strategic transport routes and territory, including along the northern border with the US and in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

In less than a month, the mutilated bodies of 14 men were left in a van in central Nuevo Laredo, 23 people were found hanged or decapitated in the same border city and 18 dismembered bodies were left near Mexico's second-largest city, Guadalajara.

Nuevo Laredo, like Monterrey, is considered Zeta territory, while Guadalajara has long been controlled by gangs loyal to Sinaloa.

The Zetas are a transient gang without real territory or a secure stream of income, unlike Sinaloa with its lucrative cocaine trade and control of smuggling routes and territory, Mr Benitez said. But the Zetas were heavily armed while Sinaloa had a weak enforcement arm, he said.

The Zetas, founded by deserters from Mexico's elite special forces, started out as assassins for the Gulf Cartel before those two gangs had a bloody split in early 2010.

The government's success in killing or arresting cartel leaders has fractured some of the big gangs into weaker, quarreling bands that in many cases are lining up with either the Zetas or Sinaloa. At least one of the two cartels is present in nearly all of Mexico's 32 states.

[GentlemanJim]

Well if ever Thaksins method of war on drugs was needed it seems to be in Mexico. It is simply horrendous what is going on. I don't think they have the death penalty in Mexico and putting these drug gang members in jail is just not effective. Does anybody actually go there on holiday any more? I could not take my family there if I was paid to.

[folium]

Well if ever Thaksins method of war on drugs was needed it seems to be in Mexico. It is simply horrendous what is going on. I don't think they have the death penalty in Mexico and putting these drug gang members in jail is just not effective. Does anybody actually go there on holiday any more? I could not take my family there if I was paid to.

Taksin's "War on Drugs" is not required anywhere.

"In August 2007, the military-installed government of General Surayud Chalanont appointed a special committee to investigate the extrajudicial killings during the 2003 war on drugs. The committee's report - which has never been made public - said that of 2,819 people killed between February and April 2003, more than 1400 were unrelated to drug dealing or had no apparent reason for their killings." (The Nation, Nov 2007)

Mexico's "War on Drugs" is in a whole different league since the military was sent in to replace the utterly compromised local police in the border areas in 2006. Ruthless drug gangs fighting for control of a multi-billion $ business supplying drugs to the US market and armed with military-grade weaponry (AR-15s, AKMs, Barrett sniper rifles etc) by US arms dealers, murdering on average 1000 people every month for the last 6 years, would not be helped by anything resembling Thaksin's hit squads.

Fascinating interview with former Mexican foreign minister below:

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/14/11698166-mexicos-drug-war-no-sign-of-light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel?lite

[HondaBest]

One day I'll click on some forum and there'll be 'News'.

'One day passes in Mexico without any mutilated and disembowled corpses being found. No heads were in bags, or bodies hung from bridges. Nobody was cut up with chainsaws or had their eyes burned out and tongues cut-off'.

Now that would be news.

[folium]

One day I'll click on some forum and there'll be 'News'.

'One day passes in Mexico without any mutilated and disembowled corpses being found. No heads were in bags, or bodies hung from bridges. Nobody was cut up with chainsaws or had their eyes burned out and tongues cut-off'.

Now that would be news.

But sadly that would require either the demand for drugs to evaporate or the supply of such drugs to be taken out of criminal hands.

Until either happens the global drugs industry will continue to undermine governments and countries, thousands will be murdered, and billions of $ will continue to be wasted on ineffective measures without addressing the demand side of the equation (which ensures that supply will always be there to meet such demand).

[Steely Dan]

Well if ever Thaksins method of war on drugs was needed it seems to be in Mexico. It is simply horrendous what is going on. I don't think they have the death penalty in Mexico and putting these drug gang members in jail is just not effective. Does anybody actually go there on holiday any more? I could not take my family there if I was paid to.

It's a big Country. One of my friends married a Mexican girl and after living in the UK for a long while they recently went to live in Mexico, to a place called San Luis Potosi. His Mum worries about the news, but my friend points out that the closest gang violence to where they live is equivalent to the distance between London and Lisbon. All said and done though I would not have Mexico on my list of potential retirement destinations.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Steely Dan

[folium]

Well if ever Thaksins method of war on drugs was needed it seems to be in Mexico. It is simply horrendous what is going on. I don't think they have the death penalty in Mexico and putting these drug gang members in jail is just not effective. Does anybody actually go there on holiday any more? I could not take my family there if I was paid to.

It's a big Country. One of my friends married a Mexican girl and after living in the UK for a long while they recently went to live in Mexico, to a place called San Luis Potosi. His Mum worries about the news, but my friend points out that the closest gang violence to where they live is equivalent to the distance between London and Lisbon. All said and done though I would not have Mexico on my list of potential retirement destinations.

Without wishing to cause you any undue concern I attach an article from the Economist about the conflict in Mexico. In essence while drug killings seem to have plateaued at approx 1000 per month their location changes as the military focuses on particular regions. It's a nasty example of the treading on lumps in the carpet scenario.

Hence San Luis Potosi saw a 58% jump in drug-related killings last year.

As the attached map shows the only relatively safe areas (at least for now) are Yucatan and Quintana Roo, which are the key areas for tourism and popular with retirees.

http://www.economist.com/node/21540289