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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2008 
Mexican Drug Hit Men Scrawl Threats on Corpses
 Lizbeth Diaz - Reuters
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| | A Mexican marine stands watch at the site of the incineration of 23,5 tons of cocaine in Manzanillo, state of Colima, Mexico in 2007. The United States has human rights concerns tied to Mexico's use of its military in anti-drug trafficking operations along their shared border, the White House said Tuesday. (AFP/Alfredo Estrella) | | |
Tijuana, Mexico - Drug gang hit men killed three Mexican army informants on Tuesday and dumped them near a military training base close to the U.S. border, scrawling threats on the bodies in black ink, police said.
The three men, who police said gave the army regular tip-offs about drug gang activity in the Mexican city of Tijuana near San Diego, were strangled.
"The messages were written on the chests and on the foreheads. One of them read 'You're next, we're going in'," said a police spokesman who declined to be named.
President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of troops to Tijuana and other cities in Baja California, Mexico's most violent state, to destroy two warring drug cartels and clean up corrupt local and state police forces.
But the army faces growing attacks from powerful drug gangs who are trying to bribe soldiers into siding with them with large sums of cash, threatening to blunt Calderon's main weapon against the cartels.
More than 2,500 people were killed in drug violence in Mexico last year and at least 250 have died so far this year as cartels smuggling cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana fight each other for control of routes to the United States.
Tijuana, a long-time center for drug traffickers, has recently seen a spike in violence. Drug gang hit men last month broke traditional codes of honor in the city by killing children, including a 3-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl.
Also last month, gunmen and more than 100 police and soldiers fought a three-hour battle outside a kindergarten in the city. One drug gang member died and two police officers were seriously wounded.
(Editing by Eric Walsh) |
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