In an apparent case of cartel rivalry, seven dead were discovered dumped in Mexico’s popular Huasteca region.
On Thursday, the group of men was found dead on a roadway with extensive bruising on the bodies, suggesting they had been beaten. According to Mexican authorities, the men appear to have been killed in a different place and then dumped in the rural area.
According to CBS, the Huasteca region is a frequent travel destination because of its waterfalls and crystalline rivers.
The bodies had extreme bruising, and “This is what happened to me for working with the Gulf“ was written on them with markers.
It is reportedly a reference to the Gulf Cartel, a criminal organization that mainly operates along the US border.
The texts were also signed “Valles Operation O.B.” — most likely a rival gang, the authorities said.
The males were most likely murdered somewhere and then discarded in the rural location, the prosecutors announced Thursday.
Former Gulf Cartel boss Mario Cardenas-Guillen was extradited to Texas on drug trafficking charges in May, the Justice Department said.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram was quoted by CBS News as saying that the cartel utilizes “intimidation and excessive violence to keep control of its territories in northeast Mexico and smuggle dangerous drugs into communities across the United States.”
The Gulf Cartel was the principal opponent to the Sinaloa Cartel for trafficking routes in the early 2000s, the Congressional Research Service says, but is currently fighting for territory in northeastern Mexico with its former enforcement branch.
Last week, cartel violence was linked to the deaths of five high school students and a lady in a street shooting in Guanajuato state, a hotbed of gang violence.
In a separate incident in May, 11 individuals, including eight women, were slain in two separate shooting incidents in north-central Mexico. The attacks appeared to be part of a competition between two drug cartels fighting for control of Guanajuato state, according to handwritten signs found at the crime scenes.
Sources: Dailywire, Foxnews, Cbsnews