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Zeta Activity in Yucatan
Eleven decapitated bodies wrapped in blankets and bearing signs of torture were found this past week in a suburb of Merida, Yucatan state. The charred remains of the severed heads were later discovered about 150 miles away in a fire pit on a beach near Cancun, Quintana Roo state. Authorities managed to identify most of the victims by means of tattoos or fingerprints, and all appear to have been related to the drug trade in some way. Up to five of the victims appeared to have been alive when they were beheaded.
Not long after the bodies were found, police arrested three alleged Zetas who were thought to be the killers and who had in their possession a list of 15 other drug dealers they planned to kill and behead.
One thing we have observed about Mexico’s cartel war over the past year is a shift in the territories under dispute by rival drug cartels. Previous violent hotspots — such as Acapulco, in Guerrero state — have quieted down while other areas have heated up. One hotter area is Yucatan state, which historically has not been an organized crime stronghold but which began to experience an increase in drug cartel activity early this year. The discovery this past week of the beheaded bodies, and the threat of more to come, represents a significant escalation in cartel activity in the state, and reinforces the notion that the Zetas are among the most powerful criminal groups in Yucatan. Although no military forces have been sent there, further violence could mean an army deployment sooner rather than later.
Peace Marches Nationwide
Anti-crime demonstrations across Mexico on Aug. 30 brought out more than 150,000 citizens to march against the country’s worsening violence. The marches, which occurred in nearly all of the country’s 31 states, were coordinated by Iluminemos Mexico, a coalition of business interest groups, peace activists and human rights advocates. Although some individual marchers directed their frustration against specific federal officials or local mayors, the underlying message of the organizing committee appears to have been non-partisan.
The marches also follow a growing trend of anti-crime demonstrations that have occurred in such crime-stricken states as Baja California and Chihuahua. These protests have differed from the expressly anti-government protests that have called for the withdrawal of federal forces from certain hotspots and have nearly always been supported by criminal groups feeling the pressure of those deployments.
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