MEXICO – Mexican authorities have exhumed 32 bodies (31 men and 1 woman) and nine heads from hidden graves in a village famous for its drug cartel turf wars, Pochahuixco, part of the municipality of Zitlala. When the authorities arrived at the site, 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”. The authorities say the heads could be linked to nine bodies that were found on a roadside in the town of Tixtla a few days ago.
A Guerrero state security spokesman said “the discoveries are terrible”. No arrests have yet been made.
The remains have been taken for identification to state capital Chilpancingo. The graves were found after authorities received an anonymous tip-off about a camp where people were being held.
Guerrero is one of Mexico’s most violent states and a major opium poppy grower, with the Ardillos and Los Rojos drug gangs fighting over territory in the Zitlala region.
A spokesman said, “There are poppy fields in a large part of Guerrero and the price of poppies has increased at the international level. There are a lot of murders, a lot of abductions.” He added that drug cartels are fighting “without mercy.”
Guerrero has been plagued by a series of mass kidnappings, including 12 people abducted in the municipality of Ajuchitlan del Progreso last week. Some 28,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico since 2007. Tens of thousands have been killed in connection with drug violence.
Be the first to comment