ELEVEN BEHEADED BODIES were found today in Mexico’s troubled southern state of Guerrero — a region still reeling from the apparent massacre of 43 students.
The grisly discovery came as President Enrique Pena Nieto unveiled a new security strategy in response to a wave of protests that erupted after a police-backed gang confessed to killing the 43 students.
In the latest carnage to hit Guerrero, 11 bodies were dumped on a road near the town of Chilapa following reports of a shootout, state and municipal officials said.
“In addition to being executed, the eleven people were decapitated and subsequently some were burned,” said a state government official who requested anonymity.
A note was left near the bodies with a message addressed to the criminal group “Los Ardillos” (The Squirrels), with the words “here’s your trash,” the official said.
A state police officer said the bodies had high-calibre bullet wounds. The victims appeared to be in their 20s.
Chilapa is 40 km east of Ayotzinapa, where the teacher-training college of the 43 students is located.
‘Turning point’
Authorities say the aspiring teachers, all young men, were rounded up by municipal police in the city of Iguala on September 26.
The case has become a tragic example of collusion between local authorities and organized crime in Mexico, a country struggling with drug violence that has left 100,000 people dead or missing since 2006.
Reforms
Revealing his reforms, Nieto announced he would dissolve corruption-plagued municipal police forces nationwide.
“Enough is enough,” Pena Nieto said, acknowledging the anger of Mexicans who have joined a wave of protests over a case that has highlighted the country’s struggle with police corruption.
“Mexico must change,” he said in a speech at the National Palace before congressmen, governors and civil society groups.
Pena Nieto said he would send a set of constitutional reforms to Congress on Monday that would allow federal authorities to take over municipalities infiltrated by drug cartels.
He said the measures also include the dissolution of the country’s 1,800 municipal police forces, “which can easily be corrupted by criminals.”
Police duties would be taken over by state agencies in each of the 31 states and the federal district.
The overhaul would begin in four of the country’s most violent states: Tamaulipas, Jalisco, Michoacan and Guerrero.
It was in the Guerrero city of Iguala where the 43 students vanished on September 26 after they were attacked by local police.
Prosecutors say Iguala’s mayor ordered his police force to confront a group of students over fears they would disrupt a speech by his wife.
Guerreros Unidos gang henchmen confessed to killing the students and incinerating their bodies after officers turned them over.
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