Beheadings Common in Central Mexico
Pastor Dale Morgan
Oct 21, 12:54 PM EDT
*Beheadings Common in Central Mexico*
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press Writer
VILLA MADERO, Mexico (AP) -- 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."