9 Headless Bodies Found In Mexican Border City

TIJUANA, Mexico — The bodies of nine decapitated men were found in a vacant lot in Tijuana Sunday, part of a wave of violence that claimed at least 23 lives over the weekend in this border city plagued by warring traffickers, authorities said.

The heads were discovered in plastic bags near the bodies in a poor neighborhood of Tijuana, across from San Diego, Baja California state police said in a statement. Three police identification cards were also found at the site.

The statement gave no motive for the killings, but they came as Mexico's drug cartels wage a bloody fight for smuggling routes and against government forces, dumping beheaded bodies onto streets, carrying out massacres and even tossing grenades into a crowd of Independence Day revelers _ an attack that killed eight people in September.

More than 4,000 people have died so far this year in drug-related violence in Mexico.

Across Tijuana on Sunday, attacks by gunmen killed five people in addition to the nine beheaded bodies.

State police said nine more people were killed in attacks on Saturday. In one, gunmen killed a 4-year-old child in an attack on a grocery store.

Baja California has suffered a rising wave of homicides, which officials blame on a struggle between rival cells of the Arellano-Felix drug cartel.

The Arellano Felix cartel emerged in the 1980s as a drug trafficking powerhouse across the U.S. border from San Diego, but has been weakened in recent years as leaders were killed or captured.

Last month, police arrested Eduardo Arellano Felix, the alleged leader of the cartel. Authorities say his nephew, Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellano, has taken over the cartel's operations and is fighting contenders.

President Felipe Calderon on Sunday vowed his government would never negotiate with drug lords no matter how much the violence escalates.

Since taking office on Dec. 1, 2006, Calderon has sent more than 20,000 soldiers to battle drug trafficking across Mexico, helping to seize of 70 tons of cocaine and 3,700 tons of marijuana, he said.

"We know that the results are far from what society demands, but that's why we'll keep fighting these criminals across the country," Calderon told a meeting on Sunday marking his first two years in office.

Comments

[bushgirlsgone]

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Maybe it was mass suicide. Sometimes I think the police and the media jump to conclusions. People do get mad enough at themselves to chop their own heads off - I can't explain how the heads got in the plastic bags though. Maybe if I toke another spliff I can think of the answer. I, maybe they had their head in the bag first man, then cut it off...hyahahaaaaaha.

[ignorantwillyharper]

We lost the war on drugs, about thirty minutes after we declared it. If you have a substance that the general public likes and wants, then legalize it. Then tax the hell out of it. Make it pure and have it obtained by scrip.
It's for sure putting people in prison hasn't, nor isn't going to work. The taxes could go for rehab, hospitals, schooling, housing, road and infrastructure. Free up law-enforcement and the courts. The money could go for the betterment of the people, instead of cartels and crooked politicians. I'm not a user, but I sure could use this money to defray my taxes and provide for the really needy of this nation.
Prohibition didn't work and we were able to realize this within about thirteen years, but we've been fighting this war since 1966, so go figure.
No, you may not like drugs, but like alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea and cow manure...it's here to stay.

[harriettubman]

I had a friend in the DEA and that's exactly what I told him, there is no war on drugs.

[SammyD]

for those of you who don't live in border states....the cartel have "given permission" to take this across the border into the U.S. so head will be showing up in your neighborhood soon....yeah, keep those borders open

[MikeJo]

All of this could be stopped in a matter of months but I dont expect the american people to legalize and regulate drugs. We are constantly bombarded with with law and order, lock em up and throw away the key propaganda on tv. Our prisons are filled to bursting with low level drug users and drunk drivers. These places are so overcrowded that the guards can barely protect themselves let alone the inmates. People even nice ones placed in these conditions turn into animals and then are released on our streets. Whole nations are being threatened and there populations terrorized because of our wrong headed approach to substance control as we see in Mexico today.

Our Constitution has been badly eroded because of this policy. We as a people have become numb to watching paramilitary police forces assault homes in our neighborhoods. This is just plain scary to me. When will we raise our heads above the sand and look at what is happening.

Humans have ALWAYS used drugs since the beginning of mankind. This will never stop, therefore we must find a way to help educate our young about the dangers of certain drugs. We must also find it in our hearts to help those who will ALWAYS become addicted no matter how much they know about the evils of such drugs. Prison is not the answer except for the violent.

[harriettubman]

How can you justify legalizing someone using crack or meth? Yep, the roads would be even safer right?

Drugs may have been around for years but they've exploded in recent years because addicted personalities seek a higher high and will resort to crushing, smoking and injecting anything to get it. No thanks, keep it illegal.

[klmebane]

i can see both sides of the argument. if drugs are made legal it takes the profit out of it for the cartels, it frees up law enforcement officers and the courts, and infuses millions in revenue into the economy.

on the other hand, there then comes the worry of increased usage. here's the facts: those who want to use will. just about anyone can find any drug with a few phone calls. obviously prohibition isn't getting the job done, so perhaps we should try something different and see if it changes the situation. people who use drugs are driving now, regardless of the illegality of those substances. but think about how many thousands of people do stupid things to avoid being caught with illegal substances, like running from the police or killing people. the fear of being caught makes some things more attractive instead of less. take away that fear and perhaps some of the risk-taking that revolves around avoiding detection will go away.

[UltraClassic]

To my liberal yankee friends in the north east. Remember, in Mexico, it is almost impossible to own a gun. I'm sitting about 6 miles from the Rio Grande. Their violence is spilling over here and it's only going to get worse until our war on drugs policy is changed.

In the meantime, I, my family and friends will remained armed, with or with out the government's blessings. Life is cheap on the border. Obama can't take care of you, you have to take care of yourself.

[Donnat]

it's cheap on the border because of NAFTA Shanty towns and an unwillingness by Bush to rock the boat down Mexico way, as he was too busy creating his own corrupt, unresponsive government.

I am in a border state too, so don't think I take it lightly. I don't think Obama will have time to worry about the borders any time soon, so I'll pray for you folks closer to the Rio Grande and hope Mexico will get serious about cleaning up this problem. Legalizing marijuana in this country would help a lot IMO.

[harriettubman]

So why are so many border people against the 700 mile fence?

[QueenOfViolets]

We've poured billions and billions of taxpayer dollars into fighting drug addiction using guns and prisons, and this is where it's brought us.

We couldn't win this war when the economy was great and we had tons of spare cash to throw at it.

Well, we don't have any spare cash any more. So what do we do now????

[FirstNation]

You can't throw money at problems like this one. We take the drug dealers off of the street but the drugs stay flowing freely among the population because the government filters it right back into the trade by selling the drugs right back to the dealers on the streets in order to try and catch more. We aren't getting the drugs off the streets, they're just getting dealers off the streets periodically. You have to treat the reasons and causes that drive people to do drugs. Its not the drugs but the problems people are facing that should be the concern.

[FZliveson]

"President Felipe Calderon on Sunday vowed his government would never negotiate with drug lords no matter how much the violence escalates." ¿Cui bono? (Who benefits?)
This Mexican, president, like his predecessors, continues the trend of passive disinterest in the earning power of the people who would have HIS HEAD if he were to truly crack down. This has not changed at all in decades. 25 years ago a friend of mine had two men jump into a taxi, put some grass in his jacket and then "bust him" for possession. He was put in a horrible jail and beaten until he was able to raise $5,000 cash from home to get him out with a stern warning; "Don jiu bring drogas into mayhico again or you be in beeg trouble. ¿Comprende, Gringo?

In addition, the influx of money into Mexico, from impoverished Mexican citizens who have bought coyotes (human transport agents) to get them into the U.S. so they can send money home. Any talk of opening the borders more than they are is an invitation for more of this to creep northward and make it NECESSARY for citizens to be better armed than they are now. Who benefits, (Cui Bono?)indeed?

Where are the human rights organizations around all this institutionalized crap? They seem to pick on the low hanging, less dangerous fruit.

[RationalDubSteppa]

While I'm all for the legalization of marijuana, I would never consume Mexican weed cause... well.. it suc.ks!! The best pot is grown in the heartland, California and Vancouver. Mexican weed is like moss colored hay. It's pretty nasty.

[Existentialist]

I'm partial to Ohio Gold myself.

[larry278]

Post industrial Ohio will be saved by its gardeners & farmers. Agri-business is looking for now & will leap to leagalize grass. Ohio: acres of weed & corn.

[bubbuh]

Could they be aliens sneaking in on the installment plan?

Hey, it's not quite as tasteless as "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag"

[HallStyle]

Why couldn't two of those bodies been BUSN -N- Cheney?

http://www.hallstyle.blogspot.com

[EtherealFusion]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118541/

[realpolitic]

There is remarkable violence inTijuana and other border cities. The local population must really feel under assault.

[MARTYB]

I agree with "harriettubman".

[Mort]

Headless bodies? They should look in Washington. There's lots of talking heads there. And they make about as much sense as these.

[bushgirlsgone]

.

This is the work of Chupacabras. If we legalize pot, we will see more of them and more innocent people will lose their heads, man.

[jesuslovesObama]

Care to explain how that might work, Detective?

[bbridges1962]

WRONG!! They would not be able to keep up with the market if it were legal. Some of the farmers who cannot afford to farm their land due to costs would be more than thrilled to be able to start using their land again and make a profit. The THC levels would be monitored...the government would be able to tax it like alcohol (which is much more dangerous than weed). As a matter of fact, caffeine is more addictive than marijuana. Most likely, the illegals would not be able to get jobs, unless it would farming the new fields, and would be forced to go home to the real killing fields of Mexico.