Nine Corpses were found hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo, North-Eastern Mexico this morning. The bodies had been tortured, handcuffed, and blindfolded before being strung up and left hanging from the bridge.
According to the Nuevo Laredo mayor, the victims were five men and four women who are thought to be members of the organised crime gang, the Gulf Cartel.
A note found with the bodies indicates Los Zetas, another notorious drug gang in Mexico, carried out the killings in retaliation. The note suggested that the victims had carried out a car bomb attack, which went off a few days ago outside the Public Safety Building in Nuevo Laredo.
Last month, 14 dismembered bodies were found in an abandoned truck in the same town.
Violence has heightened recently in the Tamaulipas region, which borders on Laredo, Texas. Officials say the violence is due to drug trafficking territory disputes between the two gangs. Los Zetas were originally part of the Gulf cartel, before they broke away in 2010.
Vicente Fox, the Mexican ex-president, came forward on Wednesday condemning the violence of the drug war, which he deemed an “absolute failure.” He suggested that other avenues to tackle drug trafficking should be explored, including legalisation.
In a meeting with foreign correspondents, Fox eluded to the “trap” Mexico is currently in, “paying the enormous price” caught between producer nations – Colombia, Peru, Bolivia – and consumer nations – the United States.
On asked about US cooperation if Mexico saw fit to move to legalisation, he responded that, “Mexico can do it without consulting the United States.”
