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AUTHORITIES HAVE EXHUMED 32 bodies and four heads from several clandestine graves in a southern Mexican state plagued by kidnappings, murders and drug cartel turf wars.
The remains were unearthed between Tuesday and Thursday in 17 pits on a hill in the village of Pochahuixco, part of the municipality of Zitlala.
“The discoveries are terrible,” Guerrero state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said, adding that the victims include 31 men and one woman.
The remains were taken to the state capital, Chilpancingo, to be identified, Alvarez said in a statement. No arrests have been made in the case.
The bodies were found in 17 of 20 pits that were dug up by investigators. Seven were found on Tuesday, five on Wednesday and the rest on Thursday in various states of decomposition.
No other remains were found but soldiers are scouring the region for any other hidden graves. No arrests were made.
Drug cartels have been burying their victims in hidden graves across the country for years, and authorities regularly find human remains.
At the border between the western states of Jalisco and Michoacan, for instance, 75 bodies were unearthed from 37 clandestine graves between late 2013 and early 2014.
Guerrero has been plagued by a series of mass kidnappings, including 12 people abducted in the municipality of Ajuchitlan del Progreso last week.
- Heads in a cooler -
The clandestine graves were found after authorities received an anonymous tip about a camp where people were being held, Alvarez told AFP.
When they arrived at the site on a hill, they found a kidnap victim as well as two cars, a motorcycle and bulletproof vests.
Soldiers and police also found four heads inside a cooler that could be linked to nine bodies that were found on a roadside in the town of Tixtla a few days ago, he said.
The Ardillos and Los Rojos drug gangs are fighting over territory in the Zitlala region, the security spokesman said.
“There are a lot of murders, a lot of abductions,” he said.
Guerrero is one of the country’s most violent states and a major opium poppy grower. Last weekend at least 24 people were killed in the state.
“There are poppy fields in a large part of Guerrero and the price of poppies has increased at the international level” while feeding heroin addicts in the United States, he said, adding that cartels are fighting “without mercy”.
- 43 students -
Los Rojos have also been battling the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel. In the Pacific resort of Acapulco, the Beltran Leyva gang and the Independent Cartel of Acapulco battle for supremacy.
Guerrero is also known for the disappearance of 43 students in the city of Iguala in September 2014, a case that drew international outrage and remains unsolved.
The Iguala case put a spotlight on the rash of disappearances in Mexico, where some 28,000 people have been reported missing since 2007 in addition to tens of thousands killed in connection with drug violence.
Frustrated by the lack of progress by the authorities, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of the disappeared have led their own searches across the country, learning to detect clandestine graves on their own.
They look for unturned earth and pierce the ground with sticks, smelling the end of it for the stench of rotting flesh.
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If any country needs to legalise drugs, it’s Mexico. Their war on drugs is completely unwinable.
Most of their drugs aren’t for the Mexican market though.
Legalising wouldn’t stop the deaths though, kidnappers want ransom money so that ain’t gonna stop them. The growers are still gonna grow and want their share of the market so they will still kill anyone affecting their profitability. These people won’t all of a sudden become noble if you change some laws.
Well you could argue that legalising drugs will kill their business. Why would anyone buy untested drugs from a street dealer when they could get more pure, tested drugs legally. However Avina raised a valid point about their Markets outside Mexico. Legalising would certainly make more sense than the current situation anyway.
Legalising drugs in Mexico wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference as the vast vast majority of drugs produced and handled by the Mexican cartels are destined for the US market.
Legalising drugs in the US could certainly destroy the Mexican cartels, but those involved could easily turn to other forms of crime instead.
Saying it wouldn’t make any difference is a bit much, but yeah. An American solution to the problem is needed most.
They market for drugs in Mexico is mainly the export market. If they legalise them internally it will make very little difference
@Avina But other forms of crime wouldn’t be as lucrative and they would lose a lot of power as a result.
So keep the drugs illegal then and let the barons have full profit and control? Makes sense. My point was it’s a complete waste of money and resources fighting an unwinnable (is that even a word?) battle. A more creative strategy is needed or this will just go on and on.
Are you saying heroin should be legalized? You are delusional. Its illegal for a reason. Its like saying ‘legalize murder’ because its going to happen anyway and theres no point fighting it. It doesnt matter who is controlling the highly addictive and life destroying drugs, thats what they are and they should not be legal. You have obviously never been exposed to anyone who is addicted to coke or heroin.
Don’t presume to know what I have been exposed to. I would prefer someone I knew who is addicted to get clean tested heroin from a medic instead of some dealer down an alley. So yes, it should be legal and controlled. If tobacco or alcohol came out today, they would never be legalised. Yet it’s freely available to anyone. Who’s dillussional here?
You think a medic would be giving out the heroin for recreational use?
You’re missing the point John – the cartels don’t get their power from selling illegal drugs within Mexico itself, they get it from exporting in bulk to the US.
@hupthejaysus you think if heroin was legal we would have students on work experience handing it out? Sigh. Come back when you pluck up the courage to use your real twitter account and I’ll continue the debate.
Yep, that was my point in mentioning alcohol.
Not the sorts of people you want pouring into your country unregulated.
Maybe they could build a big wall between Mexico and the US
What have the Mexicans ever done for us? Big silly hats. A hundred different ways to serve mince and taste the same. Knocking the bejaysus out of a sweet filled donkey. Oh, and those huge silly guitars – I quite like those.
And chocolate and tequila
Fair point Nick. They’re starting to grow on me.
Anyone watch Narco on Netflix. This is suppose to based on true events. Some people really are born into a terrible existence.
@mickmc: The American version of “The Bridge” is a good watch too, based on Mexican drug problems.
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