Mexican Cartel Skins Rival's Face, Stitches It on Soccer Ball

[Danno 1,228]

Mexican Cartel Skins Rival's Face, Stitches It on Soccer Ball

Friday, January 08, 2010

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MEXICO CITY — The body of 36-year-old Hugo Hernandez was left on the streets of Los Mochis in seven pieces as a chilling threat to members of the Juarez drug cartel. A note read: "Happy New Year, because this will be your last."

To drive home the point, the assailants skinned Hernandez's face and stitched it onto a soccer ball.

The gruesome find, confirmed Friday by Sinaloa state prosecutors, represents a new level of brutality in Mexico's drug war, in which torture and beheadings are almost daily occurrences.

Hernandez was taken to Sinaloa after being kidnapped Jan. 2 in neighboring Sonora state, in an area known for marijuana growing, said Martin Robles, a spokesman for Sinaloa prosecutors. The motive for his abduction was unclear.

His torso was found in a plastic container in one location; elsewhere another box contained his arms, legs and skull, Robles said. Hernandez's face, sewn onto a football, was left in a plastic bag near City Hall.

More than 15,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels three years ago. While the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana have seen much of the violence, Sinaloa state is Mexico's drug-smuggling heartland and is the birthplace of the leadership of four of the six major cartels.

Often, victims are tortured and mutilated, in an attempt to intimidate rivals, officials and others who might represent a threat to the cartels.

Often, it works.

In the northern city of Saltillo, a major regional newspaper announced it would stop covering drug violence altogether after the body of a reporter was found Friday outside a motel with a threatening message. Valentin Valdes had recently written about the arrests of suspected drug traffickers.

"As of today we will publish zero information related to drug trafficking to avoid situations like the one we went through today," an editor of the newspaper Zocalo told The Associated Press. Tellingly, he asked that his name not be published.

Many Mexican news media have stopped covering anything that might be associated with drugs, or limit themselves to reporting on government news releases. At least 17 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1992 in direct reprisal for stories, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Valdes had written about the Dec. 29 arrests at the Marbella Motel of five alleged members of the Gulf drug cartel. He also covered the arrests Wednesday of five others who barged into the same hotel and stole the surveillance tapes.

The 28-year-old reporter was shot to death, and his body was dumped outside the Marbella Motel.

Coahuila state Attorney General Jesus Torres would not give details of the threat left with his body.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582642...test=latestnews

[Ban Hammer 13,658]

well that's a kick to the face

[SuperDuper! 230]

well that's a kick to the face

Wilson!!

[Niels Bohr 72]

Nice jobs Republicans, more power to the cartels! (Sounding just like them now! )

[Danno 1,228]

wonder if that is stored as evidence somewhere, it's unreal.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Does neil always kneel?

[SuperDuper! 230]

Nice jobs Republicans, more power to the cartels! (Sounding just like them now! )

You are not kidding, CM, when you say the cartels have more power. They are now using drug submarines to import their white gold into the US. Rogue Russian submarine engineers are making a decent living moonlighting in Columbia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco_submarine

[Nagishkaw 510]

The cartel had a face off with Hernandez.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

WILSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

They import a lot of drugs here in our neighborhood from Canada. But they do not have the homocide problem they have in Mexico. Why is that?

[Ali G. 37]

Hey, we are all the same. People of the same socioeconomic circumstances in other non-Northern Latin American countries do the same all of the time.

See, if the US gave these billion dollar enterprise drug cartels even more money than what they already have, they would just give up and behave like civilized human beings.

They import a lot of drugs here in our neighborhood from Canada. But they do not have the homocide problem they have in Mexico. Why is that?

The million dollar question is it not..

[Ali G. 37]

I am sure the usual group will come along and as per usual defend this stuff and claim we are stereotyping and generalizing. Furthermore, are racists idiots and morons for pointing out such atrocities, that are reminiscent of past Aztec / Maya / Inca civilizations.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I agree!

I am sure the usual group will come along and as per usual defend this stuff and claim we are stereotyping and generalizing. Furthermore, are racists idiots and morons for pointing out such atrocities, that are reminiscent of past Aztec / Maya / Inca civilizations.

[justashooter 430]

but guys, it's just "cultural diversity".

[alienlovechild 75]

See, if the US gave these billion dollar enterprise drug cartels even more money than what they already have, they would just give up and behave like civilized human beings.

I'll take that as joke. Most human beings always want more and criminals are even more greedy. Reward criminals and you'd get more criminals.