Mexico: Zetas Drug Cartel Ordered Killing Of 49

Army soldiers flank Daniel Ramirez, alias "El Loco," during his presentation to the media in Mexico City, Monday, May 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

MEXICO CITY -- The army charged Monday that the top leaders of the hyper-violent Zetas drug cartel ordered underlings to leave 49 mutilated bodies in a northern Mexico town square, then had banners hung around the country denying responsibility in an effort to have their enemies blamed for the massacre.

The allegation came during a news conference to present the alleged Zetas local leader detained in the killings, Daniel Jesus Elizondo Ramirez. He allegedly got orders from Zetas leaders Miguel-Angel Trevino Morales and Heriberto Lazcano to dump the bodies in the town square of Cadereyta in the border state of Nuevo Leon.

Brig. Gen. Edgar Luis Villegas said Elizondo Ramirez, despite his nickname of "El Loco," or the Crazy One, apparently got nervous about dumping the hacked-up bodies in the town and instead dumped them on a highway outside Cadereyta. The bodies with their heads, hands and feet hacked off were found May 13.

A video posted later on a Mexican website that covers drug crimes showed gunmen in the dark dumping the bodies and unfurling a banner claiming responsibility for the killings signed by the Zetas, who are locked in a battle with the rival Gulf and Sinaloa cartels. Villegas said another suspect who is still at large made the videotape.

In the days after the bodies were found, banners appeared on freeway overpasses in other Mexican states denying that the Zetas were responsible.

Villegas said the denials were part of a Zetas strategy to "cause confusion among authorities and the public" and put the blame on the cartel's rivals.

Elizondo Ramirez tried to escape arrest Friday by tossing a hand grenade at troops before they captured him in a suburb of the northern city of Monterrey, the general said. He is being held without charge at a special detention facility while prosecutors build their case against him.

Villegas said Elizondo Ramirez had confessed to killing members of the Gulf cartel and burning or burying their bodies in another area of Nuevo Leon.

He said Elizondo Ramirez also acknowledged accompanying Zetas second-in-command Miguel-Angel Trevino Morales to Guatemala in 2008 to assassinate a rival drug capo, Juan Jose "Juancho" Leon. Leon was killed in an ambush that year in the neighboring country, where the Zetas have expanded their operations in recent years.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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• An army soldier stands next to a banner displaying mug shots of persons detained or killed by the Mexican Army during the media presentation of Daniel Ramirez, alias "El Loco", not pictured, in Mexico City, Monday, May 21, 2012. Ramirez is believed to be a member of the Zetas drug cartel allegedly involved in the dumping of more than 40 hacked-up bodies on a highway outside the city of Cadereyta near Monterrey. The bodies with their heads, hands and feet hacked off were found May 13. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

• An Army soldier stands next to Daniel Ramirez, alias "El Loco," during his presentation to the media in Mexico City, Monday, May 21, 2012. Ramirez is believed to be a member of the Zetas drug cartel allegedly involved in the dumping of more than 40 hacked-up bodies on a highway outside the city of Cadereyta near Monterrey. The bodies with their heads, hands and feet hacked off were found May 13. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

• Mexican marines escort Marcos Jesus Hernandez Rodriguez, aka 'El Chilango', alleged leader of assassins and member of the Los Zetas drug cartel, in Veracruz state, during his presentation for the press in Mexico City on May 11, 2012. (YURI CORTEZ/AFP/GettyImages)

• In this photo taken Monday, May 7, 2012, Maria Jimenez, nicknamed "La Tosca," or "the rough one" is presented to the media in Monterrey, Mexico. On Monday, authorities in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon announced they had captured Jimenez, the female leader of a local cell of the Zetas drug cartel, who is suspected of ordering or participating in at least 20 murders in or around the northern city of Monterrey. (AP Photo)

• Fourteen alleged members of 'Los Zetas' drug cartel and seized weapons are presented to the press in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon state, Mexico on February 15, 2012. More than 40,000 people have been killed in rising drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed soldiers and federal police to take on organized crime. (Julio Cesar Aguilar/AFP/Getty Images)

• A banner shows ink drawings of missing people at the National March for Dignity on the day Mexicans celebrate el Dia de La Madre, or Mother's Day, in Mexico City, Thursday, May 10, 2012. Mothers and other relatives of persons gone missing in the fight against drug cartels and organized crime are demanding that authorities locate their loved ones. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

• In this Dec. 21, 2010 file photo, weapons seized during a police and military raid are displayed in Coban, province of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. In Dec. 2010, the Guatemalan military declared a month long state of siege in Alta Verapaz in hopes of reclaiming cities that have been taken over by Mexico's Zetas drug gang. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

• Relatives mourn next to the coffin containing the remains of Jose Yovanny Bocel at an Air Force base in Guatemala City , Wednesday, March 21, 2012. The remains of 11 Guatemalan citizens were repatriated from Mexico Wednesday, part of 193 bodies found in the northern Mexico Tamaulipas state in 26 mass graves in April 2011. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

• Natalia Andres Lopez, left, and another relative, mourn over the coffin containing the body of her cousin, at an Air Force base in Guatemala City , Wednesday, March 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Comments

[addisonsteele]

07:03 PM on 06/26/2012

The Zetas are former Mexican army commandos who just a little more forthright about their violence and drug dealing than their former colleagues in the army. The odds are high that the killings were by the army.

[4allsides]

07:34 AM on 06/14/2012

To stop the flow of drugs into our country (or, at the very least slow down the trafficking) we MUST remove the security guards that we have there and put our armed military with orders to defend our borders on the borders.

To deal with those affiliated with the cartels within our country it is past time for some citizenship revokation and lifetime deportations. Meaning that any 1st generation anchor baby citizen who is gang-affiliated (regardless of the gang), has violent or drug convictions against them or is drug cartel affiliated MUST be deported with their US Citizenship status REVOKED and their assets seized.

It is past time for the US to take this problem serious. There is not ONE law abiding citizen (of ANY color of skin) that wants to wake up one morning and read the news stating that the Mexican drug cartels are killing and decapitating US Citizens ON US soil!

Our borders MUST be taken serious, NOW! When people can come hear unchecked, unverified and undocumented...you may never know WHO it is that is living next to you, serving you your food, taking your applications at the doctor's office and since Mexicans only hire other Mexicans they are the only ones with jobs in the border cities.

Citizens UNITE! Citizens FIGHT! Citizens LET'S FORCE IT RIGHT!

[gotcha0001]

12:40 PM on 06/06/2012

Us doing little at this point is just a strategy. Were hoping the drug cartels topple the goverment, then we can go in really heavy and clean house with the full support of the ousted mexican goverment and people, take the gloves off and get it done.

[sheepsheadbay]

12:08 AM on 05/28/2012

Yeah I've heard about these "Zetas." Just kill them and dump their bodies over the fence. No harm no foul.

[mflorian]

03:06 AM on 05/24/2012

If they ever need villains for the next Avengers movie...

[speeddeeps]

11:32 PM on 05/23/2012

Mexico needs a humanitarian intervention, the country is out of contro and innocent people are the victims

[blackranger]

09:26 AM on 05/23/2012

People worry about muslims, but these are the enemies of our country and their own. The US needs to address the huge demand here for illegal drugs. legalization or some other more practical approach needs to be found before more of these violent drug lords get even more estalished in this country. We have created a market for their products.

[Liban CZ]

07:08 AM on 05/23/2012

is there any other news from Mexico then headless people?
Two weeks now, what is happening at the pyramids?

[Arturo Ramrez]

11:59 AM on 05/23/2012

??

[MIKEinNYC]

09:38 PM on 05/22/2012

To a great extent I blame the people who use these drugs, coke especially.

People will avoid fur to save some animals but when it comes to sparing the lives of people by avoiding these drugs? Nah.

[Cory111]

08:57 PM on 05/22/2012

-Our government has turned a blind eye to this war at our own boarder-

I’d say we have turned a blind eye to the amount of drugs being used “inside” our borders. These Cartels are not making billions selling tamales; it’s our country that puts money in their pockets.

How easy it is to look across the border rather then looking at our own backyard.

[blackranger]

09:32 AM on 05/23/2012

It is not a blind eye, but a lack of solutions. We need to have a policy about drugs that fits the reality. Drugs create huge social costs to our society and it would be cost effective to at least establish more rehab centers. In my experience, dealing with folks trying to live without drugs, there are just too few options. Many drug users are actually using illegal drugs to self medicate the real problems of mental illness. I see this with addicts ocer and over again. i was told by a mental health care professional that illegal drugs sometimes do in fact provide relief to the mentally ill. If there were options for real mental health care, we could get these people prescriptions and remove the buyers of the illegal drugs.

[Cory111]

10:04 AM on 05/23/2012

You posted: and it would be cost effective to at least establish more rehab centers.

If you had gone over some of my previous posts you would have seem my advocating more Rehab Centers throughout our country. I’m the product of a Rehab Facility; I’ve been “Clean & Sober” for over thirty-three years. I’ve worked in the recovery field and have watched the problem increase over the years. We don’t just have a drug problem within our country, we have a pandemic.

Have a nice day.

Cory

[WTH 2012]

08:55 PM on 05/22/2012

Luckily Obama said the border fence is almost complete. We only have 95% more to build.

[blackranger]

09:33 AM on 05/23/2012

ou are delusional if you think a fence will stop illegals. The drug lords have built tunnels that we did not find for years, tunnels that they could drive semi trucks thru.

[gerald4]

08:04 PM on 05/22/2012

The main thing wrong with Mexico is that it is governed by Mexicans.

[Fran Jaime]

09:53 PM on 05/22/2012

The main thing wrong with the US is that there's too many bigots like you.

[Arturo Ramrez]

12:01 PM on 05/23/2012

I wouldn't know if it's their amount or their visibility.

[Y2KCockroach]

03:24 AM on 05/23/2012

Thank you for that sage, thoughtful, cogent analysis....

The fact that the market for these drugs is almost all Americans means nothing, correct?

The fact that these cartels work hand-in-hand with American gangs and drug traffickers also means nothing, correct?

The fact that most of the weapons being used in this slaughter are smuggled in from America also means nothing, correct?

The main thing wrong with America is that it is populated by too many ignorant, myopic, xenophobic, d*mb-a**ed Americans. If we could only build a fence around you people we would be so much better off...

[blackranger]

09:35 AM on 05/23/2012

I also get disgusted with Americans who think the problems are somewhere else instead of cleaning up their own yards first. Walmart is down in Mexico paying the corrupt officials, i guess that really helps Mexico have a honest government.

[Mariah Smith]

07:46 PM on 05/22/2012

Mexican men are hot! I mean caliente!

[mflorian]

03:07 AM on 05/24/2012

Are they being set on fire now?

[homer68]

06:42 PM on 05/22/2012

Mexico is toast!!! Our government has turned a blind eye to this war at our own boarder. Our federal leaders are even hampering the efforts of the states at the border to deal with this out of control problem. It is spilling into our country, and if we don't demand action soon, it will be in our neighborhoods. Arm yourselves!!! Mexican citizens let that right be stripped away from them. Now they are helpless with a corrupt government.

[Jose3]

07:31 PM on 05/22/2012

Our government trained the zetas. The zetas will be in America in full force when the government wants them here.

[blackranger]

09:37 AM on 05/23/2012

They are already here. The market for their drugs is here. Remove their market by some form of legalizing drugs and the source of the gang's huge money goes away.

[gerald4]

08:07 PM on 05/22/2012

Exactly!

And the Mexicans bave to comply with every demand by every armed criminal that contacts any citizen.

This is the future of the USA as US citizens relenquish their rights to arm ourelves as a defence against criminal activity

[Cory111]

09:00 PM on 05/22/2012

I'd say the future of our country resembles a few waistlines.

[blackwind]

06:25 PM on 05/22/2012

Maybe if the Mexican government set up some bodies-only dumpsters in convenient locations across Northern Mexico, the gangs wouldn't be dumping bodies all over the highways and bridges. You could have separate bins for heads, torsos, and limbs to make dealing with it easier on everyone.
And it would be a small step toward recycling -or better yet- not creating the waste in the first place.

[Jose3]

07:32 PM on 05/22/2012

The best place to put a body part recycling center would be on a pig farm.

[gerald4]

08:08 PM on 05/22/2012

Excellent Idea!