Posted on 10/21/2006 4:58:21 PM PDT by calcowgirl
VILLA MADERO, Mexico - The drug lords at war in central Mexico are no longer content with simply killing their enemies. They are putting their severed heads on public display.
In Michoacan, the home state of President-elect Felipe Calderon, 17 heads have turned up this year, many with bloodstained notes like the one found in the highlands town of Tepalcatepec in August: "See. Hear. Shut Up. If you want to stay alive."
Many in Michoacan's mountains and colonial cities are doing just that: They are tightlipped, their newspapers are censoring themselves and in one town, 18 out of 32 police officers quit saying they had received death threats from drug smugglers.
In the most gruesome case, gunmen burst into a nightclub and rolled five heads onto the dance floor. In another, a pair of heads were planted in front of a car dealership in Zitacuaro, a town best known until now as a nesting ground for monarch butterflies.
By a highway outside Tepalcatepec, suspected drug smuggler Hector Eduardo Bautista's tortured body was dumped on July 10. Near a black metal cross put up by his family at the spot, killers apparently avenging his death have been leaving severed heads - five so far - each with a threatening message.
Beheadings and accompanying notes in sometimes cryptic and misspelled Spanish are becoming a ghoulish vogue among the gangs that grow marijuana, cook methamphetamine and run cocaine in Michoacan. There have been 420 homicides in the state this year, including 19 police chiefs and commanders, and Juan Antonio Magana, the state's attorney general, says well over half the killings were drug-related - the work of smuggling gangs reorganizing after authorities captured some of their top leaders.
"These are groups that are very big, very strong and are out to dominate territory," Magana said in an interview.
Drug smuggling in Michoacan has traditionally been controlled by a syndicate known as Los Valencia. Police arrested its leader, Armando Valencia, in August 2003 and one of his lieutenants, Carlos Alberto Rosales Mendoza, a year later.
Now, anti-narcotics investigators say, the Gulf cartel based in northern Mexico is battling its way into Los Valencia territory, relying on "Los Zetas," ex-Mexican army operatives-turned hit men. Los Valencia loyalists have fought back fiercely.
Many notes attached to slaying victims are signed "The Family," a possible reference to Los Valencia. Some mention "La Chata," a known alias for a top reputed Gulf cartel hit man.
"They don't need to leave written messages. The mere fact that they are using such high levels of violence is sending messages of intimidation, causing fear," Magana said. "But doing it shows other gangs they can act in even more gruesome and violent ways than their rivals."
With a vast and sparsely populated Pacific coast and the rugged Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains, Michoacan is good territory for producing and smuggling drugs.
Many farmers have abandoned avocado, coffee and corn in favor of marijuana in the highlands, where roads are few and police can't easily penetrate. Smuggling gangs have cleared forests for airstrips. Small planes crammed with Colombian cocaine streak in, leaving loads that are ferried to the coast and stowed on fast boats that speed north toward the U.S. border.
Michoacan also has become a den for hidden meth labs.
Journalists statewide have covered the murders but some have avoided digging further after receiving death threats. On Oct. 13, police recovered the body of an unidentified man who had been shot 38 times and dumped outside the town of Tacambaro. An attached note in fluorescent yellow marker appeared to directly threaten the media: "The family and the ZZs are the same thing. Media outlets, don't sell out."
Calderon, who will be sworn in as president on Dec. 1, wants a new, better trained federal police force to investigate drug smuggling, longer prison terms for drug convicts and more extraditions of kingpins wanted in the U.S.
He says Mexico also needs more help from U.S. law enforcement, since Mexican smugglers are serving American drug users.
Attorney General Magana denies Calderon's contention that Mexican law enforcement is overwhelmed. But in Villa Madero, a logging town of crowing roosters and stray dogs asleep on cracked asphalt streets, the abrupt mass departure of police officers suggests a different picture.
"There's an enormous pressure here," said former officer Reyes Alberto Gamino, now retired at 21. "It's very dangerous."
Mayor Alberto Villasenor has said the police were fired for failing to show up to guard a municipal dance Sept. 16. The former officers claim they quit because gunmen were waiting to kill them for arresting a reputed drug boss.
One of the officers who resigned is Gildardo Villa. Interviewed in front of his home, Villa seemed nervous, looking over his shoulder constantly and answering questions in hushed tones.
"The threats had been coming for a long time," he said. "That's why we left."
Inside his cramped City Hall office, Justice of the Peace Apolinar Yanez acknowledged that police are afraid of the gangs, whom he described as "very well armed and very dangerous."
"I'm not going to tell you who they are, not going to give you names or tell you what kinds of activities they are involved in. I don't want problems," Yanez said. "But they were threatening the police."
Since the police officers quit, many in Villa Madero say they are afraid to leave their homes.
"There's a fear that affects everyone," said Enrique Acerra, 70, who runs a used-clothing store. "It's hard to feel safe."
I once lived in Mexico. Now I'm resistant to even visiting there. To say it's gotten worse over the years is a gross understatement.
Ah yes, just like good old London in the 16th century. Unlike the Mexican drug lords the English would display the heads on London bridge for religious heresy; Catholics or Protestants depending on the religious outlook of the particular ruling monarch.
Perhaps Tony Blair could send the wetbacks a replica of London bridge to proudly display their wares upon.
Note to cut and run "stay homers" with your flamethrowers at the ready. I know the Republicans haven't done much about illegal immigration either but AT LEAST YOU STILL HAVE YOUR GUNS. That will stop once the 'RATS take over. Thanks!
Chances are, it's only a matter of time before this comes to California.
Let's open the border even wider! It's not fair Mexico gets to keep such people for themselves!
Would one of these guys be the guy with the buck shot in the butt that the Border Patrol guys are in prison for 10 years for shooting?
It's hard to see what more we could do to make it easier for them.
Religion of Pieces meets the Mexican drug cartel.
Ping.
Just gives you a warm fuzzy feeling about the plan to enforce the border at the "outer perimeter" of North America, don't it? ;-)
I still say Mexico is a lot safer than a lot of places in other countries. If gangsters are chopping each others' heads off, and I'm not doing anything with gangsters, I'm relatively safe (though running across a loose head here and there would be kinda icky!).
If this bothers people in the U.S., then stop buying narcotics.
While stationed at the Embassy in Mexico City in 1993, a bunch of us made the trek up to the mountains of Michoacan state to see the place where all those butterflies leave from and return to every year. Michoacan is a very heavily forested and mountainous region, so it's easy to see how the locals can get up to all sort of nefarious activities and escape the eye of the authorities.
You mean the guy with 800 lbs. of marijuana found in his van? Nah... that guy is now a U.S. government witness against our very own border patrol. He's probably living it up in a hotel (at U.S. taxpayer expense) awaiting the final sentencing of the officers and working with his attorneys on his $5 million lawsuit against the U.S. While receiving free medical care, of course.
Well, I think it's the most dangerous place in the Western Hemisphere, although there some slums in Rio that rival it.
It's the only country in this hemisphere where I fear the police. Not because they enforce the laws, but because they break them.
Chances are, it's only a matter of time before this comes to California.
Close enough. can you say Tijuana
Some brag they're "headed for the Mexican Riviera" or the town/hotel where Liz Taylor used to hang out.
Let the heads.......sorry, the good times......roll.
Leni
There's a lot of whining about our rights, etc., with the powerful government we have, but I prefer it to outlaw states where outlaws rule.
Mexico is a vast country. The Mayan Riviera is a relatively safe area. But I do agree people are relatively unaware. However there are places in this country I would never visit for the very same reasons.
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