Others decapitated and mutilated -

MEXICO – At least 73 people from Central and South America tried to make their way
into the U.S. from Mexico earlier this week.
72 of them are now dead and one survivor tells a harrowing tale of mass
murder at the hands of the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel.

The survivor, an Ecuadorian, who had entered Mexico illegally in the hopes of
reaching the U.S. had been shot but was able to make his way to a roadside checkpoint
where he told Mexican authorities about the murders, and dead bodies, on a ranch less than 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas.

Mexican marines engaged the cartel gunmen in a shootout on Tuesday that left one
marine and three suspects dead.  It was
after the shootout that marines discovered a mass grave filled with the bodies
of 58 men and 14 women.  Some of the
bodies were reported to be stacked one on another.

Vice Admiral Jose Luis Vergara, a spokesmen for the Mexican Navy said the lone
Ecuadorian survivor told investigators that his captors identified themselves
as members of the Zetas drug gang.

“It’s absolutely terrible and it demands the condemnation of all of our
society,” said Alejandro Poire, a security spokesman for the Mexican
government.

This mass killing constitutes the worst single massacre to date in a drug
war that has now claimed over 28,000 lives since the offensive by Mexican
authorities began in December of 2006.

This
murder rampage also serves as a startling reminder that the violence is creeping
ever closer to the U.S. border and details the extreme dangers that illegal
immigrants face when attempting to enter the U.S. from Mexico.

Los Zetas and other warring Mexican drug cartels are known to frequently
kidnap illegals and threaten to kill them unless they pay a fee for crossing
the cartel’s territory. It is also
common practice to hold illegal aliens and ransom their freedom from relatives
living in the U.S. or their home country.

The survivor of this massacre says the group, which included people from
Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil and El Salvador, was abducted by an armed gang and
taken to the ranch in San Fernando south of Brownsville.  A Mexican federal official said that the
survivor has identified himself an illegal immigrant.

The bodies were taken to a morgue in San Fernando, where officials are
working to identify the remains.

This is the third time this year that Mexican authorities have discovered
bodies from mass murder. In May 55
bodies were discovered in an abandoned mine near Taxco south of Mexico
City. In July, investigators found 51
corpses in a field near a trash dump outside of Monterrey. The field is believed to be a “dumping ground”
used over time to dispose of murder victims.

Violence has continued to escalate over the summer in Mexico with the
assassination of a gubernatorial candidate, the use of a car bomb in a street shootout, and the
gruesome discovery on Sunday of four decapitated men in Ceurnavaca. The decapitated men also had been mutilated;
their genitalia removed and were hung from a bridge by their ankles. Drug Cartel leader Hector Beltran claimed
responsibility of these murders in a note he left on the bodies.

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About John G. Winder

John G. Winder has spent 29 years in the broadcasting industry as an on-air report, General Manager and Executive in both radio & television.

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