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Mexico’s drug war: Latest 49 dead bodies

May 14, 2012

In Monterrey, Mexico police found 49 mutilated bodies spread around the entrance to the town San Juan on a highway that connects the industrial city of Monterrey with Reynosa. The 43 men and 6 women with their feet, hands, and heads chopped off were found before dawn on Sunday. Some of the bodies were in plastic garbage bags, most likely brought to that spot and dropped from a back of a dump truck, said Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene. A white stone arch that welcomes visitors to the town was spray painted with the words“100% Zeta”. It is referred to the Zetas drug cartel.

In Mexico the number of body dumpings has increased in the last 6 months due to the growing fight between the Zetas and Sinaloa Cartel. In less than a month, the maimed bodies of 14 men were left in a van in downtown Nuevo Laredo and 23 people were found hanged or decapitated in the same border city. Near Mexico’s second-largest city, Guadalajara, 18 dismembered bodies were left out in the open. Nuevo Laredo like Monterrey is considered Zeta territory. Guadalajara has long been controlled by gangs loyal to Sinaloa.

The Sinaloa Cartel is said to be run by fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and its allies, said the federal Attorney General’s office in a statement on Sunday. The office is offering $2 million reward for any information that can lead them to the arrest of Guzman, Zetas leader Heriberto Lazacano and Miguel Trevino. The two cartels have emerged as Mexico’s two most powerful gangs and are battling over strategic transport routes and territory.

The Zetas are a temporary gang without real territory or a secure stream of income, unlike Sinaloa with its profitable cocaine trade and control of smuggling routes and territory, said Raul Benitez Manaut, a security expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. But the Zetas are heavily armed while Sinaloa has weak weapon enforcement, he said.

Drug violence has killed more than 47,500 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a step up offensive when he took office in 2006. Mexico is now in the middle of a presidential race to replace Calderon. Drug violence seems to be rising but none of the candidates have referred directly to the mass killings. They all say they will stop the violence and make Mexico a more secure place but offer small to none details on how their plans would differ from Calderon’s.

What are your thoughts?

1 Comment »

1. 

   The Mexico cartels are crazy. There was no point in mutilating all those bodies and then dumping them in a public place.

   Comment by Marco Holguin — May 23, 2012 @ 4:49 pm

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