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Caribbean-Latin America
Officials find 26 dead in Guadalajara -- UPDATED
2011-11-24
For a map, click here Updated to include new information from AnimalPolitico.com
A total of 26 unidentified individuals were found dead Thursday morning in Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico, stuffed into three vehicles, according to Mexican news accounts. The victims were found near the intersection of avenidas Mariano Otero and Lazaro Cardenas.

Officials in Guadalajara and from the Procuradoria General de la Republica (PGR), or the national attorney general's office said two messages were left with the victims. Officials also said the crime is similar to the murder of 35 Los Zetas in Veracruz state last September.
To read the Rantburg report on the September 20th murder of 35 Los Zetas, click here
Claim for that crime was taken by the Matazetas group, at one time thought to be a vigilante group, now known to be affiliated with the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels. Officials in the Veracruz slaughter at the time said the murders were because of competition in local drug dealing markets. Press reports also said the Los Zetas have recent aligned their local groups the the Milenio cartel,

One of the messages left with the dead in Guadalajara were directed to the governor of Jalisco state, Emilio Gonzalez Marquez. The content of the messages were not revealed to Mexican press.

Officials with the Guadalajara municipal police corporation said today that video recordings were made of the vehicles in transit, and it is possible to identify the drivers.

Associated Press accounts have stated, absurdly, that Guadalajara has been spared much of the violence that the rest of Mexico has suffered, even though Guadalajara is capital to one of the most drug infested, dangerous regions in Mexico: the northern border area of Jalisco state with Zacatecas state.

That area is a contested zone where Los Zetas have been fighting an ongoing battle with Mexican federal and state security forces, and with rival drug cartel gangs associated with the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels.

The Sinaloa and Gulf cartels have been aligned since last spring and have stated their intentions to destroy Los Zetas. Numerous shootings in Guadalajara took place close to the end of 2010.
Posted by:badanov

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