Beheadings, Torture, Murders continue in Mexico

By Brittney Hodnik
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – Mexican authorities still have very little control over drug cartels and drug violence in Mexico.  The groups are still kidnapping, torturing, and murdering civilians to show signs of their territory and to display other threatening messages.  In the last 48 hours, 24 bodies were found tortured or beheaded in the western state of Michoacan.

Michoacan is a small port state in Southwestern Mexico

According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, these acts are based around a local drug war between rival drug cartels.

The Washington Post describes the victims as each having a black plastic bag over their heads with a single gunshot wound to the back of their neck.  Also, threatening messages accompanied the bodies.  Just two days prior, nine bodies were found in another Michoacan town.  The bodies had been tortured and beheaded.  An Associated Press reporter saw police and soldiers carry away the bodies and heads.

The Washington Post reports that drug cartels often behead victims as a threatening message in itself, to intimidate rival gangs, usually over territory disputes.  The most recent display was likely the work of the New Generation gang, according to The Weekly.

Along with these killings, eight taxi drivers were killed in northern Mexico and three bystanders were injured, according to The Huffington Post.  Public security spokesman, Jorge Domene Zambrano said that four gunmen shot five drivers outside of a base office, and the other three men were killed later, a few blocks away.  This is where the bystanders – including an 8-year-old girl – were injured, reports The Huffington Post.

Mexico continues to have many problems with violence.  The major problem tends to be with drug gangs, but random civilian violence prevails as well.

For more information, please visit:

The Latin American Herald Tribune — Cartel Turf Battle Claims 9 More Lives in Western Mexico — 13 Apr. 2012

The Weekly — Seven Tortured, Bound Bodies Found in Mexican Port — 13 Apr. 2012

The Washington Post — Seven Tortured, Bound Bodies Found in Western Mexico Port City, With Warnings Signed by Drug Gangs — 12 Apr. 2012

The Huffington Post — Mexico Taxi Drivers Killed by Gunmen, 3 Bystanders Injured — 11 Apr. 2012

Author: Impunity Watch Archive