Mexican Officials Discover an Apparent Massacre on Ranch
- 14 years ago
Mexican officials hold a news conference following a gruesome discovery on a ranch in the northern Mexico state of Tamaulipas.
Military forces came across the bodies of 58 men and 14 women, thought to be migrant workers, after a series of firefights with drug gang members.
This comes as the single biggest discovery of its kind in Mexico's increasingly bloody drug war.
But one person survived the massacre.
The Ecuadoran man, who is recovering from gunshot wounds at a nearby hospital, escaped the ranch and tipped off marines at a local checkpoint.
Navy Vice Admiral Jose Luis Vergara spoke to reporters in Mexico City.
[Jose Luis Vergara, Navy Vice Admiral]:
"On the highway checkpoint located close to the town of San Fernando Tamaulipas, navy personnel requested medical help on behalf of a man because he was injured by gun fire. The person gave information about the execution of approximately 70 people by Los Zetas."
Mexican officials say the bodies were dumped about the ranch, and had not been buried.
In recent years Mexican cartels have moved into human smuggling, sometimes kidnapping migrants, extorting them, and forcing them to carry narcotics across the U.S. border.
Some are even forced to become hitmen.
Northern Mexico has become the scene of some of the bloodiest drug violence this year, as rivals from the Gulf cartel and a spinoff group, the Zetas, fight over smuggling routes into the United States.
Military forces came across the bodies of 58 men and 14 women, thought to be migrant workers, after a series of firefights with drug gang members.
This comes as the single biggest discovery of its kind in Mexico's increasingly bloody drug war.
But one person survived the massacre.
The Ecuadoran man, who is recovering from gunshot wounds at a nearby hospital, escaped the ranch and tipped off marines at a local checkpoint.
Navy Vice Admiral Jose Luis Vergara spoke to reporters in Mexico City.
[Jose Luis Vergara, Navy Vice Admiral]:
"On the highway checkpoint located close to the town of San Fernando Tamaulipas, navy personnel requested medical help on behalf of a man because he was injured by gun fire. The person gave information about the execution of approximately 70 people by Los Zetas."
Mexican officials say the bodies were dumped about the ranch, and had not been buried.
In recent years Mexican cartels have moved into human smuggling, sometimes kidnapping migrants, extorting them, and forcing them to carry narcotics across the U.S. border.
Some are even forced to become hitmen.
Northern Mexico has become the scene of some of the bloodiest drug violence this year, as rivals from the Gulf cartel and a spinoff group, the Zetas, fight over smuggling routes into the United States.