Drug cartel stitches victims face on soccer ball

[BlackPirate]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34774234...news-americas/

MEXICO CITY - The body of 36-year-old Hugo Hernandez was left on the streets of Los Mochis in seven pieces as a chilling threat to members of the Juarez drug cartel. A note read: "Happy New Year, because this will be your last."
To drive home the point, the assailants skinned Hernandez's face and stitched it onto a soccer ball.
The gruesome find, confirmed Friday by Sinaloa state prosecutors, represents a new level of brutality in Mexico's drug war, in which torture and beheadings are almost daily occurrences.

Hernandez was taken to Sinaloa after being kidnapped Jan. 2 in neighboring Sonora state, in an area known for marijuana growing, said Martin Robles, a spokesman for Sinaloa prosecutors. The motive for his abduction was unclear.
His torso was found in a plastic container in one location; elsewhere another box contained his arms, legs and skull, Robles said. Hernandez's face, sewn onto a soccer ball, was left in a plastic bag near City Hall.
More than 15,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels three years ago. While the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana have seen much of the violence, Sinaloa state is Mexico's drug-smuggling heartland and is the birthplace of the leadership of four of the six major cartels.
Power of intimidation
Often, victims are tortured and mutilated, in an attempt to intimidate rivals, officials and others who might represent a threat to the cartels.
Often, it works.
In the northern city of Saltillo, a major regional newspaper announced it would stop covering drug violence altogether after the body of a reporter was found Friday outside a motel with a threatening message. Valentin Valdes had recently written about the arrests of suspected drug traffickers.
"As of today we will publish zero information related to drug trafficking to avoid situations like the one we went through today," an editor of the newspaper Zocalo told The Associated Press. Tellingly, he asked that his name not be published.
Many Mexican news media have stopped covering anything that might be associated with drugs, or limit themselves to reporting on government news releases. At least 17 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 in direct reprisal for stories, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Valdes had written about the Dec. 29 arrests at the Marbella Motel of five alleged members of the Gulf drug cartel. He also covered the arrests Wednesday of five others who barged into the same hotel and stole the surveillance tapes.
The 28-year-old reporter was shot to death, and his body was dumped outside the Marbella Motel.
Coahuila state Attorney General Jesus Torres would not give details of the threat left with his body.

This is barbaric.When all these gruesome murders are going to end?

[Thanatos]

Well, this is disturbing.

[Carach]

Well, this is disturbing.

lol understatement :/

the ongoing war in Mexico and other areas of central/south america is hugely under reported really.

though here in the UK we get a few days of snow and its reported on 24/7 like we've experienced a natural disaster of world-ending proportions and thus hear of nothing else...

[Hookah Smoking Caterpiller]

Thats pretty brutal. I see the war on drugs is going well for all involved.

[mrmouth]

Thats pretty brutal. I see the war on drugs is going well for all involved.

While surely exacerbated by the drug trade, the violence level in Latin America has always been as bad as it gets anywhere on earth.

15000 dead? That's a real war down there...

It is outpacing both Iraq and Afghanistan. The brother of a guy I used to work for is Army SF, and was reassigned to NORTHCOM, from SOUTHCOM, simply because of Mexico. SF are operating on the border with Mexico along with DEA.

[Gromovnik]

15000 dead? That's a real war down there...

[Admiral Piett]

Hell, when cops open fire on the military while doing raids, and when you find pieces of people's bodies scattered throughout the city, you know its probably time to jump ship. I have serious doubts that this crackdown is going to achieve anything. When you bring down one big guy, he's just going to be replaced by another. The only way to bring them down is by removing their source of income. Drug prohibition needs to end.

[Salem1]

Hell, when cops open fire on the military while doing raids, and when you find pieces of people's bodies scattered throughout the city, you know its probably time to jump ship. I have serious doubts that this crackdown is going to achieve anything. When you bring down one big guy, he's just going to be replaced by another. The only way to bring them down is by removing their source of income. Drug prohibition needs to end.

What do they get income from? how does this drug cartel stuff actually work? do they have the law or in the Mexican case ''law'' on their side

[patrick1191]

What do they get income from? how does this drug cartel stuff actually work? do they have the law or in the Mexican case ''law'' on their side

Basically Mexico has avoided the problem for so long that it is now a cluster of corruption. Drug cartels are very large organizations that sell drugs to distributors around the world.

[Admiral Piett]

What do they get income from? how does this drug cartel stuff actually work? do they have the law or in the Mexican case ''law'' on their side

These Mexican and South American cartels gain most of their market from drug distribution in the US. If there were a legal, controlled market, much less people are going to buy from the original dangerous sources, while drug addicts that do buy that hard stuff like coke, heroin, and meth will have to go to a rehabilitation center - rather than a prison. When you remove the violence from the market, these druglords will each other off and the ones that remain will be significantly weaker. The market will begin to disappear for them.

[Giuliano Taverna]

I have an idea, send in the army, kill or capture everyone involved, and line the American-Mexican border with their crucified bodies ala Crassus. That would fit my notions of justice.

[Aetius]

I have an idea, send in the army, kill or capture everyone involved, and line the American-Mexican border with their crucified bodies ala Crassus. That would fit my notions of justice.

Violence does not end violence.

If you recall Crassus himself was killed later and the slaves cotinued to revolt because the source of the problem; no freedom over one's own life.

The same thing here. Drug Prohibition needs to end.

[bushbush]

The same thing here. Drug Prohibition needs to end.

wtf? u mean heroin and stuff too?

[Giuliano Taverna]

Violence does not end violence.

If you recall Crassus himself was killed later and the slaves cotinued to revolt because the source of the problem; no freedom over one's own life.

The same thing here. Drug Prohibition needs to end.

Crassus wasn't killed by a slave he died invading Parthia, and roman slaves didn't revolt on the scale of Spartacus ever again. I imagine the slaves that lived to see the bodies along the Appian way wouldn't have even considered the idea.

[bushbush]

democracy without law = mexico.

[Simon Cashmere]

democracy without law = mexico.

Democracy without democracy.

here is a novel idea. legalize casual drugs and destroy the root of the crime to begin with.

if my memory serves me correctly, it is the end of prohibition era that caused all the crazy gangs in America to stop operating.

So then they could ship the legalised drugs north in San Diego? Don't think the US would like that. It wouldnt remove the market unless the US, Canada, and Mexico all somehow removed the market for drugs through relaxing prohibition - but that will *never* happen. The reason is that illegal drugs compromise an individual's ability to work, and the companies wont have that. Alcohol and tobacco, wont kill you (usually) before your working life is over, so the state and the corporations are fine with that. Opiates and cocaine are more likely to make you an addict and an unproductive member of society, so society keeps only the drugs that are less likely to impede the ability to work. And it will keep banning the remainder of them. Marijuana is hated because it removes motivation, including the motivation to work. Cant have that.

[Panzerbear]

The reason is that illegal drugs compromise an individual's ability to work, and the companies wont have that. Alcohol and tobacco, wont kill you (usually) before your working life is over, so the state and the corporations are fine with that. Opiates and cocaine are more likely to make you an addict and an unproductive member of society, so society keeps only the drugs that are less likely to impede the ability to work. And it will keep banning the remainder of them. Marijuana is hated because it removes motivation, including the motivation to work. Cant have that.

Netherlands don't seem to have that problem. or does it?

[Simon Cashmere]

Netherlands don't seem to have that problem. or does it?

I'm not saying I agree, I just don't care really. I don't use drugs, never have. Occasionally drink a glass of red with dinner and a scotch or two after it. That's as exciting as it gets for me. Prohibition set the big crime families in the US up for the foreseeable future, its just RICO that brought them back again. Still they control large parts of the US. Even though prohibition on alcohol is gone.

That is the thinking behind the ban though. Concern for the welfare of the people per se, is just the wishful thinking of a naive idealist.

[Azog 150]

If history has taught us one thing, its that prohibition always works

[Barry Goldwater]

ing hell, that's disturbing. What did this guy do?

I have an idea, send in the army, kill or capture everyone involved, and line the American-Mexican border with their crucified bodies ala Crassus. That would fit my notions of justice.

Personally, I wouldn't mind dumping every single damn one of these barbarians into a giant vat of acid and televising the event. Oh, and shoot anyone who tries to get out, too. These bastards deserve whatever they get.