And you thought your commute was bad...

Horror as nine bodies found hanged from bridge and 14 heads decapitated and dumped along U.S. border in Mexico
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 4, 2012



The bodies of 23 people have been found hanging from a bridge or decapitated and dumped along the border city of Nuevo Laredo, where drug cartels are fighting a bloody and escalating turf war.

Authorities found nine of the victims, including four women, hanging from an overpass leading to a main highway, said a Tamaulipas state official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide information on the case.

Hours later, police found 14 human heads inside coolers outside city hall along with a threatening note. The 14 bodies were found in black plastic bags inside a car abandoned near an international bridge, the official said.

The official didn't release the contents of the note, or give a motive for the killings.

But the city across the border from Laredo, Texas has recently been torn by a renewed turf war between the Zetas cartel, a gang of former Mexican special-forces soldiers, and the powerful Sinaloa cartel, which has joined forces with the Gulf cartel, former allies of the Zetas.

Local media published photos of the nine bloodied bodies, some with duct tape wrapped around their faces, hanging from the overpass along with a message threatening the Gulf cartel.

Interior Secretary Alejandro Poire met with Tamaulipas Gov. Egidio Torre Cantu on Friday and agreed to send more federal forces to the state, according to a statement from Poire's office.

Nuevo Laredo was the site of a 2003 dispute between the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels that set off a wave of violence that has left thousands dead and spread brutal violence across Mexico.

That year, then-Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas was arrested and accused drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, sensing weakness , tried to move in on Nuevo Laredo, unleashing a bloody battle.

The city of tree-covered plazas and hacienda-style restaurants was transformed as the Zetas, then working as enforcers for the Gulf cartel, and Sinaloa cartel fighters waged battles with guns and grenades in broad daylight.

Killings and police corruption became so brazen that then President Vicente Fox was forced to send in hundreds of troops and federal agents, and the only man brave enough to take the job of police chief was gunned down hours after he was sworn in.

The Zetas won that fight and have since ruled the city with fear, threatening police, reporters and city officials and extorting money from businesses.

They broke off their alliance with the Gulf cartel in 2010, worsening the violence across northeast Mexico.

But last month, 14 mutilated bodies were found in a vehicle left in the city center.

Some media outlets reported that the Sinaloa cartel took responsibility for those bodies and in a message allegedly signed by its leader, Guzman, said the group was now back in Nuevo Laredo 'to clean' the city.

More than 50,000 people have been killed since the Mexican government began a crackdown on narco-trafficking in 2006.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...o=feeds-newsxml

Chapo just left 14 decapitated heads in NL too, threatened the Mayor in a Narco banner. NL is heating up worse than ever, shits about to go down.

It's interesting because there is serious fighting on both turfs, last week sinaloa (Chapo turf) has seen a ton of fighting and death and now Nuevo Loredo (zeta turf) is about to blow up. NL would be an incredible foothold for chapo, if he pushes zetas out of Nuevo laredo than he has done a hell of a job...that is if he doesn't get caught first.

You know what's sad? If Obama actually did something about this shit, his own supporters on the left would throw a hissy fit.

Not selling guns to the cartels and legalizing some drugs would make the left angry?

On that note, regardless of what one thinks about legalizing marijuana, to legalize the harder drugs like cocaine, heroin, or meth is unrealistic and downright crazy. And I imagine the cartels have the money and resources to get weapons anywhere, even if another gun never crossed the border from the U.S.

Well, as IvyLeague said, legalizing stuff like meth would be nuts. And if marijuana were legalized (note: I think it should be), the cartels would expand other activities to make up the difference. And I think if marijuana users in the USA were so principled, they would stop getting more than half their marijuana from the cartels. Someone's buying from them; the marijuana is for the most part not coming from organic weed farmers in the USA.

If Obama were to make some kind of decisive action directly targeting the cartels, many on the left wouldn't approve ("Oh! He's the same as Bush! I am going to take a principled stand by staying home on election day!").

As for "selling guns to the cartels": not sure what you're referring to there; enlighten me please.

anybody with common sense and google should be in favor of marijuana legalization. as for the other drugs you mentioned, thats where it gets tricky for me. some people (and im not referring to you here) seem to be under this false impression that if the harder drugs were legalized that they would be everywhere and society would instantly collapse, which i dont believe at all. example: portugal.


the fact remains that the drugs are here regardless of thier legal standing. i think it was ron paul who said in one of his debates that went something like this "if heroin was legal how many people would start using heroin?" another problem with keeping them illegal is the $. these cartels simply cant function without money and they are so entrenched in mexico that the only surefire way to get rid of them is to cut off the flow of money, and if all drugs remain illegal this simply wont happen, so if drugs are illegal and the violence continues, can you really complain? imo one of the biggest problems with drug abuse is this weird notion that all illegal drugs are grouped together, when in reality they are all entirly different compounds and should be treated differently, not this crazy schedule that has been developed.a quick example for those who dont know, pot is a schedule 1 drug, which is the most restrictive with a high potential for abuse and no recognized medical benefits, while meth and cocaine are schedule 2


that should give people a clear cut idea of the competency of the government when it comes to drugs. i totally agree with you on the weapons though as the world arms market is so big that a criminal gang has tons of options on where to procure their weapons from, not to mention the boatloads that are left in central america from decades of civil war.

fast and furious: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46457

I don't seen any reason why legalizing the harder drugs wouldn't have a similar effect to legalizing alcohol. Yes, alcohol was around during Prohibition. But in the years it's been legal again, it's had a more widespread and damaging effect on society than narcotics simply because of it's availability.

maybe, maybe not but the fact is that drugs are a huge problem and lots of people want it to change by implementing the same policies. prohibition was a miserable failure that did nothing but eat up tons of money at a time when the country desperatly needed the money spent elsewhere while at the same time causing the power and influence of oc to expand greatly. sounds very similar to the current situation. to expand , another problem during prohibition was dangerous products like "bathtub gin" that killed people because of a lack of quality control. again, very similar to the problems today with street dealers cutting thier product with god knows what. imo what we need is something similar to what they have in holland where if you are dead set on shooting up heroin, go somewhere safe where you can get your fix and do it out of public view. no need to steal and rob people when your fix is guaranteed.

There's a way to vastly reduce, if not eliminate, the drug trade. Just go the China route and start executing drug traffickers; from the top kingpins to the local dealers. People just aren't willing to do it.

im more then sure the govt will make a deal with one of the cartels to eradicate and eliminate one of the other opposing forces thats how its done then turn around and go after them at a later time ... that sh*t down there will not end at all due to the corruption and greed its common knowledge money is the root of all evil and a better way of life down there

It's been alleged by some for a while now that the Mexican government has "favored" the Sinaloa cartel in the ongoing wars.

who ever is paying the most and im sure its family ties and extortion to a point just like the mafia they put people in a position of power and expect their investment to help them at a later time at whatever the cost to the person owing the favor

This sort of thing is why I suspect that some sort of military intervention from an outside country (probably the USA) may eventually be required to truly break the cartels.

These people are a whole 'nother level of evil. This is beyond gangsterism, this is sadism.

I agree, its like something out of medieval times!

The Chinese approach sounds tough, effective and uncompromising but in reality works little better than the US approach and as China opens up its border ever more, arguably less so. The estimated amount of users is around 4 million, which although proportionately low is increasing every year. Whatever the arguments, it obviously doesn't represent a particularly effective strategy. Besides, most Chinese workers smoke and drink so much they don't need 'harder' drugs.
As someone else in this thread pointed out, the Portugal approach is the most sane in the context of 2012. Of course, Portugal is a small country so perhaps the USA should adopt state-level policy, but decriminilazing (not even declaring a legal open season) on most drugs means that the few drug addicts (of course most people don't shoot up and wouldn't begin to if it was legal)pay for their hits and don't put money in the pockets of crime.
Either way, bottom line, where's your good old-fashioned American liberalism. Who's the government to tell you what to do with yourself. I certainly never signed the social contract.

What's more, because junkies in Portugal are now in the national system, the state helps them to quit the junk. As a result, Portugal went from experiencing something of an HIV epidemic to having one of the lowest levels of European drug abuse.

Mexican authorities find 49 mutilated bodies dumped on northern highway
Zetas drug cartel takes responsibility for massacre, the latest in an escalating tally of mass killings near US border

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/13/mexican-authorities-find-mutilated-bodies

Y! Big Story: Mexico’s six-year drug war behind the Mother’s Day massacre
By Vera H-C Chan
May 15, 2012


The mass dumping of headless bodies administers a shock to Mexico, long numbed by a death count of nearly 50,000 brought on by president Felipe Calderon's war against the crime cartels. By the time his tenure ends this December, six years after his declaration, that number will likely surpass 60,000.

What kind of headway has the country made since 2006? Of the seven major cartels, some have vanished, but smaller syndicates have scrambled into the vacuum. The two largest—Sinaloa and Los Zetas—remain in power and at each other's throats. A beefed-up federal force has supplanted Mexico's underpaid, poorly treated, corrupt police force, but corruption persists, and journalists are being killed.

The U.S. has been guarding its borders closely against violence, although the demand for drugs hasn't deviated much since 2006. Nor have the American gangsters who facilitate the network. Worse, the barbarism—with notes taken from the al-Qaida playbook—has escalated.

Mother's Day massacre in Mexico—49 to 70: The corpses, mostly men, were dumped Sunday on a highway in Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon, about 75 miles outside Texas. The corpses's heads, hands, and feet had been chopped off. First reports estimated there were 49 headless bodies, but the count may actually be closer to 70; the actual number won't be known until the body parts are untangled.

According to Borderland Beat, these deaths resulted from a power struggle between the two largest drug cartels and were reportedly timed for Mother's Day, May 10 in Mexico—and a day when some mothers marched to protest the government's failure to stop the killings.

Los Zetas retaliated against the butchering spree by Sinaloas and its newest ally, the Gulf Cartel. The Gulf Cartel has been fighting with the Zetas since 2010 for Nuevo Leon turf. (Mexico has 32 states, and Nuevo Leon borders Texas.) Years ago, the Zetas were the gunmen for the Gulf Cartel.

The message behind the mutilations: The inhumanity amounts to near genocide. Heads have been thrown into nightclubs and one victim's face was skinned and sewn onto a football. There's been a resurgence in beheadings, thanks to cartel leaders inspired by al-Qaida execution videos. Every cut sends a message, and the extreme violence is intended to cow an embattled nation.

If a tongue is cut out it means the victim has talked too much. A person who has given up any information on a cartel, no matter how minuscule, has his finger cut off and put into his mouth upon his death. This is because a traitor is known as a "dedo"—a finger... If you are castrated it means that either you have slept with a cartel member's woman or you have, in the case of a government official, police or the military, become too boastful about battling the cartels. Severed arms mean you stole from your consignment of illegal goods or skimmed profits. Severed legs mean that you tried to walk away from the cartel. Decapitation, however, is something altogether different. It is a statement of raw power, a warning to all, like the public executions of old. In other words, "we rule here." These are just a few of the symbolic "messages" the cartels use. (Spring 2012, Counterterrorism & Homeland Security Reports)

A study on leadership decapitation highlights its barbaric effectiveness, at least within a military context:

Taking hostages and ritually beheading them has emerged as a popular terrorist tactic for radical groups... Terrorists hope to strike fear into the populace, in order to influence political decisions and weaken the resolve of nations and individuals who might support the global war on terrorism. Their actions also have tremendous cultural and symbolic significance for their audience, which includes other insurgents, potential recruits, and local citizens. (June 2005, Terrorist Beheadings: Cultural and Strategic Implications)

The death count is stabilizing, but the violence will spread. The murder rate is "stabilizing," according to Jorge Castaneda, foreign minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003.

It has pretty much leveled off at about 1,000 drug-linked executions a month—about 12,000 per year. All very high levels, but it is no longer growing. (May 14, MSNBC)

InSight Crime, however, has taken the mass murders as a sign of expansion.

The recent incidents in Nuevo Laredo, Jalisco, and Cadereyta also promise a return of the use of mass body dumps for targeting enemies... Prior to this recent batch of incidents, however, mass killings and subsequent displays of the dead had been rare. In addition to delivering a substantial upward jolt to Mexico's murder rate, the regular appearance of scores of dead bodies also magnifies the fear and insecurity among the public. (May 13, InSight Crime)

How does America contribute to Mexico's problems? Americans continue to buy the drugs that Mexicans are making, says Castaneda.

There is no indication that there has been any decrease in overall drug consumption in the U.S. The Americans point to some decline in powder cocaine but an increase in marijuana, methamphetamines, etc. Those come from Mexico also. (May 14, MSNBC)

The U.S. also supplies weapons to the south. Prison and street gangs—pandillas—facilitate the network to move drugs throughout the United States, notably in places such as Reno/Sparks, Nevada, and Birmingham, Alabama.

Mexico's success despite the cartels. Mexican officials have defended against many claims, from the Pentagon and CIA warning the country could become a "failed state" to worries about it disintegrating into civil war. Yet Mexico has had a stronger economic recovery since 2009, its GDP rates rose 3.9%, and more of its citizens returned to Mexico than migrated to the United States. The 2011 homicide rate (37,110) marks the steady increase over the past five years, but Pew points out that's "only slightly higher" than 1997 (35,341)—cold comfort. And people still visit—a record 22.7 million traveled to Mexico. (The U.S. Department of State details the areas to avoid in a February 2012 advisory).

The solutions: Suggested solutions range from legalizing drugs—and diminishing the profit motive—to transferring returning soldiers to the border and along smuggling routes, relieving the Mexican military and allowing them to focus inland. Mexico holds its presidential election this July, so change is coming—but some observers aren't impressed with any of the candidates' proposed crime platforms.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/y-big-story-mexico-six-drug-war-behind-182554036.html

You know things are getting bad when even women are getting into the head severing.

http://www.historiasdelnarco.com/2012/05/video-comandante-diablo-y-rey-de-reyes.html

i wonder like cartels or zetas can find easily 50 people from the other side and kill all togheter? its so strange

Those guys are nuts! REALLY!

I saw a video once uploaded on another forum, showing guys killing two others with a chain saw. That litearally made me sick.
I´m sure guys in here have seen the video before. So DO NOT post it in here. Really sick stuff!

^^^ not trying to upset you, but i feel that if people really want to know whats going on then they should see the video.


http://www.bestgore.com/beheading/chains...pitated-mexico/

I´m sure many in here have seen it already. No need for you to post it!!!!

maybe they have, maybe not. no need to get mad over what happens everyday down there.

Yeah I realize people should be aware of what goes on in the world, I did see that video, but I wish I hadn't, its like the Nick Berg beheading video, I saw it on a documentary once, (I had no idea it was going to show it) and you feel sick to watch it and I felt like I was wrong to have seen it.

that videos the best one . you can see the hopelessness on the second guys face as his friends getting the chainsaw. have you seen the one where theres two guys trying to chop off one guys head with knives.

Aint the sinoloa cartel losing now because of recent arrests?

Interesting choice of words.

Hey! I got my hand slapped for uploading graphic pictures ..How come you can upload and I cannot

Take a Look at the bridge they are hanging from and tell me how no one saw them doing this ..*rolls eyes* This just shows how corrupt the Mexican government really is

I'm assuming this question was directed at me. I didn't see what picture you tried to post so I can't comment. Ultimately it's up to the mods here as far as what is considered "too graphic." The picture I posted was included in the article itself. Pictures can be even more problematic than videos because somebody at least has to click on the video link, whereas the picture is just right there for all to see.

Are you serious?
Does watching that video turn you on or something?

Yeah its sick to enjoy such things, its barbaric, medieval.

OH GOD!! I have watched them too. I thought the beheading were bad in Iraq.. Uh, HELL NO!! Nothing compares to taking close 6 -10 minutes cutting a guys head off with a dull knife!! I cant get the imagine out of my mind

It was graphic! Dismembered bodies.. But that’s the cartels style, people who know about them, know what to expect! Dont be shocked if its posted, right?

The Mexican mafia's are the flavor of the moment, plus they make tons of money, which people don't like. We all know how the average Joe feels about those who make more money then themselves.

Anyway, I don't see people here complaining about the Galante, Pizzolo, DiLapi Bruno and Napolitano pictures. Maybe, that's because its Italian mafia and we all know how the mafia is belittled and downgraded on here by some who think they are more superior then Lucky and Chin.

wrong choice of words, what i meant was that out of all the videos that ones the most memorable in a bad way of course. reminds of the chainsaw scene in scarface except those two didn't have any friends waiting outside in a car.

These guys are animals. They should nuke the whole of Sinaloa and the gulf coast to get rid of them instantly.