Mexico's Drug Wars Leave Rising Death Toll
A black cross at the side of the road in Mexico's Michoacan state is a gruesome memorial to a local gang leader whose body was dumped on the site.
Security forces conduct an operation to look for drugs and guns in Michoacan.
Security forces conduct an operation to look for drugs and guns in Michoacan.
Mexican and U.S. officials are meeting Thursday in Laredo, Texas, to discuss concerns about growing drug violence in Mexico. U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza has advised U.S. citizens to exercise extreme caution when traveling in Mexico because of "the rising level of brutal violence."
More than 1,500 people have died in narcotics-related killings this year alone. In recent months, dozens of people have been beheaded and tortured as cartels across Mexico fight for the lucrative drug-trafficking routes into the United States.
The state of Michoacan, best known outside of Mexico as the place where monarch butterflies winter, has the highest number of people killed -- 400 so far this year. Mexican intelligence officials estimate that at least 65,000 people in Michoacan live off the drug trade in some way.
One late night in the town of Uruapan, armed men, their faces covered, came into a dance hall called Sol y Sombra (Sun and Shadow), manager Carlos Alvarez says.
"They told everyone to lie on the ground, and they shot into the air," he says.
The men were also carrying a sack. Inside it were five severed heads, which they dumped onto the dance floor.
They left this message, written on cardboard: "The family doesn't kill for money. It doesn't kill women. It doesn't kill innocent people, only those who deserve to die. Know that this is divine justice. "
Alvarez says he doesn't want to talk about the incident. In fact, when pressed, he nervously defends the assailants.
"These men didn't come here to hurt anyone, they work against bad people, those men whose heads they cut were like bugs," he says.
Victor Alejandro, the owner of a small shop across the road from the dance hall, says he's afraid to be seen talking to a stranger.
"There are informants everywhere," he says.
"We live in fear because of the situation of violence. There are a lot of capos, people who deal in illicit things, who are in Uruapan right now. They all have their groups and they bring problems, and they resolve their issues in the street violently. Let's say I honk my horn at the wrong person, something bad could happen... there have been cases that they confront people with guns."
A Michoacan Narco Ballad
While the drug violence has everyone worried, the drug kingpins in Michoacan are actually folk heroes. Although they are illegal, go to any market in Michoacan and you can find CDs with homegrown narco-corridos, ballads that glorify drug dealers and the drug trade. Hear one of the songs:
'Michoacan Harvest'
by El Cejas ('the eye-browed one')
The product we offer is first quality,
You can sample it if you want.
Harvested in Michoacán,
Its pure goats tail.
Its part of the best product,
We have picked from our land.
In Michoacáns soil,
We harvest tons of it.
In our green meadows we plant the evil weed -- hierba mala,
And its transformed into millions in the United States.
They say the mafia dies,
And that is a big lie
The product has been internationalised to a large scale,
And our Mexican land gets more and more famous.
In La Ruana and El Aguaje,
They have changed their crops.
They used to plant corn,
But those times are gone.
Today, you can only see the green tops,
Of that very expensive grass.
There are many who criticise us,
I am going to give them an advice.
If this was an easy business,
anyone would be involved in it.
It is not a matter of having pants,
one has to wear them well.
With these lines, I say goodbye,
They expect me in Tijuana,
As I finish delivering this parcel
And I am back at La Ruana
To prepare another load for some friends in Atlanta.
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