23536
Bluelight Crew
GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- A baker, a truck driver, a soft-drink vendor and a dental technician were among the 26 men found bound, gagged, slain and left in the center of Guadalajara, a state prosecutor said Friday.
Written in motor oil on the victims' bodies were the names of the Zetas and Millenium drug cartels. Law enforcement officials and analysts saw that as a possible indication the two allied gangs were announcing their intent to seize a city historically controlled by the powerful Sinaloa cartel.
The Zetas and Sinaloa have emerged from years of Mexican drug wars as the largest cartels in the nation, and potential competitors for control of smuggling and other businesses worth billions of dollars a year. Both frequently form alliances of convenience with smaller local gangs.
Analysts cautioned, however, that the killers in Guadalajara may also have been engaging in an isolated act of retaliation for the slaughter of dozens of men dumped on a roadway in September 600 miles away in the eastern, Gulf coast city of Veracruz. Authorities blamed that killing on the New Generation, a gang believed to be working with the Sinaloa cartel. A video posted by men claiming to be the Veracruz killers said the victims were Zetas.
The next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city, begins dissolving into the chaotic killing, kidnapping and streetfighting that has devastated cities and towns along the U.S. border, said Samuel Logan, director of Southern Pulse, a risk analysis firm specializing in Latin American organized crime.
"The Mexican government has to react quickly and strongly," Logan said. "This could be the beginning of Guadalajara moving into a more insecure environment ... We need a little more time to watch things play out."
The identities of 14 of the men slain in Guadalajara were released Friday by Jalisco state prosecutor Tomas Coronado, who said that only two had criminal records, without providing details.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/24/2517790/26-bodies-dumped-in-mass-slaying.html#ixzz1epLhfEsZ
Written in motor oil on the victims' bodies were the names of the Zetas and Millenium drug cartels. Law enforcement officials and analysts saw that as a possible indication the two allied gangs were announcing their intent to seize a city historically controlled by the powerful Sinaloa cartel.
The Zetas and Sinaloa have emerged from years of Mexican drug wars as the largest cartels in the nation, and potential competitors for control of smuggling and other businesses worth billions of dollars a year. Both frequently form alliances of convenience with smaller local gangs.
Analysts cautioned, however, that the killers in Guadalajara may also have been engaging in an isolated act of retaliation for the slaughter of dozens of men dumped on a roadway in September 600 miles away in the eastern, Gulf coast city of Veracruz. Authorities blamed that killing on the New Generation, a gang believed to be working with the Sinaloa cartel. A video posted by men claiming to be the Veracruz killers said the victims were Zetas.
The next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city, begins dissolving into the chaotic killing, kidnapping and streetfighting that has devastated cities and towns along the U.S. border, said Samuel Logan, director of Southern Pulse, a risk analysis firm specializing in Latin American organized crime.
"The Mexican government has to react quickly and strongly," Logan said. "This could be the beginning of Guadalajara moving into a more insecure environment ... We need a little more time to watch things play out."
The identities of 14 of the men slain in Guadalajara were released Friday by Jalisco state prosecutor Tomas Coronado, who said that only two had criminal records, without providing details.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/24/2517790/26-bodies-dumped-in-mass-slaying.html#ixzz1epLhfEsZ
