More than 40 people slaughtered in Mexico atrocity

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

CADEREYTA JIMENEZ, Mexico | Sun May 13, 2012 2:23pm EDT

(Reuters) - Suspected drug gang killers dumped the mutilated bodies of more than 40 people on a highway near the northern city of Monterrey in one of the worst atrocities to hit Mexico in recent years.

The mutilated corpses were found stuffed into bags in the early hours of Sunday on a highway in the municipality of Cadereyta Jimenez, officials from the state of Nuevo Leon said.

There were more than 40 victims, an official for the state government said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A state police official said the death toll may have been as high as 49.

It was not immediately clear who the victims were. A forensic investigator at the scene said some of the bodies showed signs of decay, indicating that they may have been dead for days.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/13/us-mexico-slayings-idUSBRE84C08420120513

[thelordofhell]

1. Tell me again how the war on drugs is good

Oh right, it isn't

[tabasco]

2. Do tourists still go to Mexico?

I bet the hotels are cheap these days.

[SaintLouisBlues]

6. Yes tourists still go to Mexico... in record numbers

including one of Obama's daughter this spring.

Hotel occupancy rates are at record highs in Mexico , so hotels are not cheap these days.

[ag_dude]

9. Oaxaca, where Malia went...

...is about as close to the border where the trouble is as Arkansas is.

[Faygo Kid]

7. Sadly, not me. Enough is enough.

Given choices, I will pass. This is simply appalling, and while it's not indicative of the nation, I will spend my time elsewhere. Horrid.

[ag_dude]

8. Saying "Mexico" is like asking like if tourists to go "America".

The border areas and the resorts have VERY little in common with each other.

[tabasco]

11. Saying "Mexico" is getting to be like like saying "Afghanistan."

Eventually, people will stop going there if they don't stop the violence.

[ag_dude]

13. True, but there's no curing the small minded.

It's a large, diverse country with dramatic differences even without the cartel wars.

The drug violence is for all intents and purpoes non existent in the right tourist destinations.

It would be a shame to punish an entire nation even further with more costs resulting from the foolishness of our own laws.

[Enrique]

27. but at one time a tourist could go to any part of Mexico

not just the resorts. same with Afghanistan

[ag_dude]

28. What do you think you disagree with me about?

[EFerrari]

19. I agree with your larger point

but hasn't there been trouble near Vallarta, something about a tourist bus that was waylaid? And before that, some other story about Cancun maybe? IOW, there has been trouble near more than one resort.

Mexico has been a favorite vacation destination and I know a lot of people with family there. It breaks my heart to read these stories.

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. There have been targeted cartel killings in Cancun, but...

they have nothing to do with and seemingly no impact on the tourist strip.

I haven't heard about a bus by Vallarta.

But the violence is not just on the border. There've been heads thrown around in Acapulco and real gang wars there, as well as killings throughout Guerrero. Michoacan, too.

There's also a lot of tit-for-tat killings in Sinaloa (where Puerto Vallarta is) as El Chapo and his erstwhile colleagues los Beltran Leyva duke it out, but nothing to do with tourists, and most of it in Culiacan or up in the hills.

And lately in Chihuahua City, Veracruz, and, most troubling to elite types, Monterrey, the home of some of Mexico's leading industrial families.

Mexico has also been a favorite destination of mine, and I would return in a second. Not going to Mexico because of the prohibition-related violence is like not going to California because the west side of Oakland is dangerous.

[EFerrari]

22. Here's the story I was remembering.

By Hugo Martin

February 28, 2012, 8:00 a.m.

The Puerto Vallarta Tourism Board, hoping to repair the reputation of the popular tourist destination, called the robbery last week of 22 cruise passengers who departed their boat for a nature hike an "extremely rare incident."

In a statement issued Monday, the board said the robbery by hooded gunmen on the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta is under investigation by police and local prosecutors.

The tourists were part of a weeklong cruise on the Carnival Splendor that left the Port of Long Beach on Feb. 19 and returned Sunday morning, according to Carnival officials.

The cruise line has suspended the nature trail tour where the robbery occurred. The cruise line said it is "working with guests to reimburse them for lost valuables and assist with lost passports or other forms of identification."

The tourism board said a study commissioned by Puerto Vallarta in June found that "visitors to the destination feel safe and continue to visit Puerto Vallarta numerous times throughout their lifetime."

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-puerto-vallarta-20120227,0,1594851.story

I used to automatically discount the idea of avoiding Mexico but not any more. There's too much violence in too many places.

[ag_dude]

23. It's the typical focus on the negative

One story of violence in an area does not condemn the entire area.

New York anybody?

[EFerrari]

24. Baloney. There are no areas of NY state that are out of the control

of state troopers. The state of NY itself is not in crisis.

Stop the Drug War: Mexican Poet Javier Sicilia Condemns U.S. Role in Widening Drug Violence
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/11/stop_the_drug_war_mexican_poet

Snip

"JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I’d like to ask you—Mexico is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. It has a huge, long culture and proud history. Do you fear that the country is on the verge of being a failed state?

JAVIER SICILIA: [translated] I even would say that there is no state. The state is completely fractured. And if the parties, political parties, are not aware of this, we are going to a narco state, a drug state, where violence will have its roots both legally and illegally, and we are going to be forever lost in that."

[ag_dude]

29. And in the context we are speaking of....

...it's not the entire nation of Mexico, you can still go to the right parts on vacation and be relatively safe.

[EFerrari]

30. Well, I don't mean to be a harpy.

And in the context of scare stories about Mexico, they are old standard fare. I used to giggle about people who were so uncomfortable with the slightest difference that they couldn't relax and enjoy their stay in Mexico. My youngest son and I have gone exploring at all hours of the day and night wherever we have visited without worry.

But, imho, there is something quite different happening there now than say, even five years ago. Maybe recognizing that is different than saying "stay away".

[demosincebirth]

12. I just came back. Had a wonderful time.

[flamingdem]

3. This might be revenge for the decapitations in Guadalajara

The numbers get higher with each response between El Chapo and the Zetas (not sure I have that right but something along those lines)

[secondwind]

4. Legalize EVERYTHING, already! Remove the profit from drugs! You want tp circle the

drain, it's your life... but this is getting ridiculous!

[flamingdem]

14. Now the cartels focus on smuggling humans, slavery and

other less dangerous profit centers

[killbotfactory]

15. They already do that. nt

[may3rd]

16. Where will the cocaine be sold?

and what about the mules ? WHo will be buying the mules?

[BlueIris]

5. Like a bad episode of "24."

Awful.

[fujiyama]

10. While I agree with the calls for legalization,

especially of say marijuana, but the problem is far from being that simple. Yes, the cartels would lose some power, but ultimately Mexico's political culture has to completely change. Like many developing countries, corruption is endemic, poverty is rampant, and what we're seeing is a complete breakdown of law and order. It's really striking with all the coverage of the Middle East over the last year, how little we seem to understand of what is going on just south of the border.

I do think that our government's drug-war concentric view of Mexico is a large part of problem. Well, actually it's shallow even otherwise. It rarely focuses on much beyond drugs, illegal immigration, and maybe among some - NAFTA.

[may3rd]

17. Is anybody keeping a mexican body count ?

It seems to be a competition between cartels.

[flamingdem]

18. I think it totals about 15,000 per year

and hasn't increased this year apparently

[Comrade Grumpy]

21. About 50,000 since December 2006, when Calderon sent in the army.

That was at year's end. Last year, while absolute numbers increased, the rate of increase was slowing. Yay!

But they seem pretty busy so far this year.

What I don't get is: Who's? buying all that Mexican weed, anyway? I'm in California, and I don't know the last time I even saw Mexican weed, let alone wanted to smoke that inferior product.

[flamingdem]

25. It doesn't make sense, that's why we need to think about human smuggling

and forced prostitution and the other charming things they're into now, things that are harder to detect but profitable.

I don't know that this has replaced a large percent of the drug trade, but I agree I just don't get who is consuming all that pot etc.

[Comrade Grumpy]

26. Well, they're also exporting cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine.

But yes, the cartels, particularly the Zetas, are expanding into other organized crime fields, like extortion and kidnapping.

Even if we legalized drugs tomorrow, the organized crime problem in Mexico wouldn't entirely go away, but it would certainly suck a lot of oxygen out of the room.