Mexico authorities find over four dozen corpses

May 14, 2012

Authorities in Mexico have discovered 49 headless and dismembered dead bodies abandoned on the side of a road at the entryway to San Juan, a town located within municipality. The bodies, six female and the other 43 male, were discovered by police at approximately 0400 (0900 ) yesterday.

Speaking on behalf for security in the state of, Jorge Domene said, "We know from the characteristics that this is the result of ," clarifying that this was not "an attack on the civilian population". A spray-painted notice that read "100% Zeta," referring to the, was sighted on an archway where the incident occurred and is a sign that killings were linked to a dispute between drug cartels. Domene said the sign is typically a method Los Zetas uses when it takes responsibility.

Adrian de la Garza, a state prosecutor, has commented on the possibility of the individuals being killed as long ago as Friday and in a different location from where the bodies were discovered. He said he is still considering the possibility of those killed being migrants from Central America who intended to travel to the United States.

Both Domene and de la Garza said identification of the bodies will be difficult because the bodies were found headless and with their extremities removed. The corpses have been referred to the city of for.

According to , Los Zetas is in a conflict with the and  over drug transportation paths leading towards the United States, with all cartels attempting to gain control of the road paths. The road on which the discovery was made lies between Monterrey in the state of Nuevo León and the city of, located close to the , in the state of. security expert Raul Benitez Manaut described the conflict between the cartels as "the most definitive of all the cartel wars".

On Wednesday, a discovery of a similar nature occurred when eighteen beheaded and mutilated corpses were discovered within two deserted vehicles near the city of. In a separate incident on May 4, 23 corpses were found in the city of, fourteen of which were without heads. Over 47,500 fatalities have been recorded since the commencement of the Mexican Drug War in December 2006.