Military and
forensic experts inspect the body of a man who was killed outside a
nightclub in the border city of Ciudad Juarez August 31, 2009. A man was
handcuffed to a fence and shot several times by drug hitmen outside a
nightclub, according to local media. The assailants also left a warning
message, known as narco mensaje, at the site of the shooting. Picture
taken August 31, 2009. REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
Drugs are big business and big business means big money means stiff
competition. In a normal industry you’d simply try to beat the
competition by making a better product or by building a good brand. In
the drugs business you simply try to do away with the competition by
killing them. Pablo Escobar did it and the Mexican drug gangs have been
at it a while too. This year alone thousands of people have been killed
in Mexico due to the drug wars and the town of Ciudad Juarez is often
the battlefield. As long as the demand is there the supply will keep on
coming and death, destruction and wealth with it. GRAPHIC
CONTENT.
The body of a
man killed execution style and wrapped in bin liners lies by the side of
the Acapulco-Mexico highway November 16, 2006. REUTERS/Stringer
Soldiers arrive
for a change of guard at Ciudad Juarez March 1, 2010. Mexican drug lord
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, the long-time head of the Juarez cartel over
the border from El Paso, Texas, is fending off a virulent offensive by
Mexico's most wanted trafficker Joaquin Shorty Guzman for
control of Ciudad Juarez, turning the city into one of the world's most
dangerous places. REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
Arrested members
of a gang are being presented to the media in Guadalajara June 7, 2010.
An anonymous caller allerted police who arrested 11 heavily armed
people and seized weaponry and drugs, according to local media.
REUTERS/Alejandro Acosta
The slain body
of a drug hitman is seen among branches after an operation by Mexican
soldiers at a ranch near the municipality of Sabinas Hidalgo, some 100
km away from Monterrey April 27, 2010. The army freed sixteen people,
including a woman and her son during an operation at a ranch used by
hitmen as a safe house, according to local media. The army also seized
machineguns, guns, ammunition, four trucks and some 2 tons of marijuana.
Two gunmen died during the operation. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
A haul of about
206 million U.S. dollars is seen after it was found stashed in closets,
suitcases, and drawers in a house in an upscale neighbourhood of Mexico
City March 15, 2007. Law enforcement officials said the money belonged
to drugs smugglers who imported chemicals used to make methamphetamines.
Seven people were arrested in the raid. Picture taken March 15, 2007.
REUTERS/Procuraduria General de La Republica/Handout
Weapons, drugs,
money and jewellery seized during several anti-narcotics operations in
Mexico are displayed during a news conference at the headquarters of the
Attorney General in Mexico City April 23, 2007. REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar
Packages of
cocaine are lined up before they are loaded onto an airplane in San
Andre April 13, 2008. Guatemalan anti-narcotics police on Sunday seized
1.2 tons of cocaine on it's way to Mexico. Picture taken April 13, 2008.
REUTERS/Policia National Civil/ORIS
Soldiers unload
134 tonnes of marijuana to be incinerated at the military base Morelos
in Tijuana October 20, 2010. Soldiers seized the drug on Monday in
Mexico's biggest-ever pot haul, the army said. Heavily armed soldiers
raided a series of homes in a poor suburb of Tijuana, across the border
from San Diego, California, and came under fire at least once as they
took the drugs, also arresting 11 suspected traffickers. REUTERS/Jorge
Duenes
Soldiers pile up
134 tonnes of marijuana to be incinerated at the military base Morelos
in Tijuana October 20, 2010. Soldiers seized the drug on Monday in
Mexico's biggest-ever pot haul, the army said. Heavily armed soldiers
raided a series of homes in a poor suburb of Tijuana, across the border
from San Diego, California, and came under fire at least once as they
took the drugs, also arresting 11 suspected traffickers. REUTERS/Jorge
Duenes
Tonnes of
marijuana are being incinerated at the military base Morelos in Tijuana
October 20, 2010. Soldiers seized 134 tonnes of marijuana on Monday in
Mexico's biggest-ever pot haul, the army said. Heavily armed soldiers
raided a series of homes in a poor suburb of Tijuana, across the border
from San Diego, California, and came under fire at least once as they
took the drugs, also arresting 11 suspected traffickers. REUTERS/Jorge
Duenes
Mexican soldiers
look as 134 tonnes of marijuana are incinerated at Morelos military
base in Tijuana October 20, 2010. Soldiers seized the drug on Monday in
Mexico's biggest-ever pot haul, the army said. Heavily armed soldiers
raided a series of homes in a poor suburb of Tijuana, across the border
from San Diego, California, and came under fire at least once as they
took the drugs, also arresting 11 suspected traffickers. REUTERS/Jorge
Duenes
An evidence
marker lies next to a pair of sun glasses and a puddle of blood at a
crime scene where 8 people were dumped after being executed by hitmen in
Ciudad Juarez April 28, 2010. REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
Gold and silver
plated pistols are shown to the media in Guadalajara in this May 2, 2010
photo. The Mexican army raided the house of a family member of Oscar
Nava Orlando Valencia, the leader of a drug trafficking gang who is
currently in prison, and seized dozens of weapons, some of the plated in
gold or silver and encrusted with precious stones, according to local
media. Picture taken May 2, 2010. REUTERS/Stringer
Police arrest a
gunman at a house where a hostage was being held in a residential area
in Ciudad Juarez May 19, 2010. After an exchange of fire, police
arrested five gunmen and rescued the hostage, according to local media.
REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
A girl stands
next to the coffin of three-year old Iliana Hernandez during a wake in
Ciudad Juarez June 3, 2010. Ileana and her father were driving in car
when unknown assailants gunned them down on June 1. REUTERS/Alejandro
Bringas
A family member
and a friend mourn for Sergio Hernandez in Ciudad Juarez June 9, 2010.
Mexico demanded an investigation on Tuesday into the apparent shooting
death of a teenager by a U.S. border patrol agent, an incident bound to
stoke cross-border tensions over illegal immigration. Witnesses said
they saw the unidentified agent shoot at Hernandez, aged around 14, on
Monday under the bridge crossing between El Paso Texas and Ciudad
Juarez, a violent city on the frontlines of Mexico's war against drug
cartels. REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
The bodies of
two men lie on the outskirts of Cuernavaca June 17, 2010. The men were
found with their hands tied and faces wrapped in duct tape with the
letters CPS written on them, local media reported.
REUTERS/Margarito Perez Retana
Two bodies hang
from a bridge near a commercial area in Cuernavaca July 13, 2010. A
total of three men, all repeatedly shot at while hanging with their
heads covered up and hands bound, were found hanging from two bridges in
the same commercial area of Cuernavaca, local media reported.
REUTERS/Margarito Perez
The slain bodies
of two drug gang members are seen inside a house after a gunfight with
the army at a ranch approximately 90 mi (140 km) from Monterrey
September 2, 2010. At least 25 suspected drug gang members were killed
in an army raid in rural northeastern Mexico on Thursday, the army said
in a press release. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
A policeman uses
a metal detector to look for bullets next to the bodies of two men and a
woman in Mateo on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa September 6, 2010. The
victims were handcuffed when their bodies were discovered on Monday. The
three, identified as 19-year-old Edgard Antonio Zuniga Pavon,
17-year-old Leonardo Osorto Corralez and 23-year-old Katherine Desire
Bonilla, are believed to have been executed, according to local media
reports. REUTERS/Danny Ramirez
A Colombian navy
soldier collects packages of cocaine in Cartagena after they were shown
to the media September 12, 2010. Around 1,133 kg of drugs were seized
during an operation near Cartagena, according to authorities.
REUTERS/Jairo Castilla
A police officer
guards a crime scene where four men were gunned down in a drive-by
shooting in the border city of Ciudad Juarez August 22, 2008. More than
2,000 people have died this year in Mexico's drug war, mostly between
rival gangs, in a fight for control of smuggling corridors into the
United States. Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, has
the highest murder toll of the country this year, with 867 killed,
according to media. Picture taken August 22, 2008. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
A woman shows
her nails decorated with marijuana leaves and images of narco patron
saint Jesus Malverde in the northwestern city of Culiacan in this May
14, 2008 file photo. Each year, dozens compete in beauty pageants in
the sun-baked hills of Sinaloa state where their legendary good looks
draw wealthy drug traffickers who will sometimes pluck one out and
spirit her off to a mountain hide-out. REUTERS/Mica Rosenberg
A policeman
stands surrounded by Marijuana plants after taking part in the seizure
of the plantation in Tijuana, in Mexico's state of Baja California June
17, 2009. REUTERS/Jorge Duenes
Members of the
Honduras police bomb squad open a box containing the body of a woman at
La Cabana neighbourhood in Tegucigalpa, June 23, 2009. The bomb squad
was called in to inspect the contents of the box, which was believed to
contain a bomb. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
A man lies dead
among evidence markers at a crime scene in the border city of Ciudad
Juarez July 13, 2009. More than 12,300 people have died in Mexico in a
three-way war between rival cartels and the army since President Felipe
Calderon deployed thousands of troops against the cartels in December
2006. Picture taken July 13, 2009. REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
A member of
Colombia's Navy checks cocaine seized in the Gulf of Morrosquillo, in
Cartagena September 4,2009. Approximately 1.9 tonnes of cocaine were
seized the Navy said. REUTERS/Jairo Castilla
Two women hug as
forensic workers inspect a crime scene in the border city of Ciudad
Juarez July 30, 2009. Local government deputy Claudia Lorena Pérez
Marrufo and her companion were fatally injured after a drive-by shooting
incident. More than 12,300 people have died in Mexico in a three-way
war between rival cartels and the army since President Felipe Calderon
deployed thousands of troops against the cartels in December 2006.
REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
A Mexican Police
officer arrests a pregnant young woman for possession of drugs, outside
a nightclub in Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, on the
U.S. border with El Paso,Texas, on May 8, 2003. About 100 women have
been killed by serial murderer or murderers and 200 more in other
violent incidents since 1993. The crimes have attracted wide
condemnation for their brutality and, although several alleged culprits
have been put behind bars, the murders have continued. REUTERS/Daniel
Aguilar
A policeman
stands outside the house where members of drug trafficking gang were
arrested in Alvaro Obregon district, Mexico City, in this handout
picture dated October 18, 2008. Out of the fifteen people who were
arrested, ten are Colombians, according to the police.
REUTERS/Secretaria de Seguridad Publica Federal
Forensic workers
stand next to 11 of 16 slain bodies dumped in an abandoned lot in the
border city of Tijuana September 29, 2008. Police found 16 bodies dumped
in the seedy Mexican border city of Tijuana on Monday in what the state
attorney general's office said could be a revenge attack for the arrest
of a local drug gang hit man. REUTERS/Stringer
Investigators
photograph a victim of one of four narco-related shootouts in Guatemala
City January 28, 2009. Authorities reported four people killed and two
injured in the shootouts where hundreds of rounds were fired from
automatic weapons. Guatemala, scarred by years of civil war and rampant
street gang crime, is suffering a new scourge as violent Mexican drug
traffickers put down deep roots in the country. Picture taken January
28, 2009. REUTERS/Daniel LeClair
A Colombian
anti-narcotics policemen inspect packs of cocaine seized at the port in
Buenaventura, March 23, 2009. Colombian police confiscated at least 3.5
short tons of cocaine. REUTERS/John Vizcaino
Residents look
at a body found inside a supermarket cart in the Morro dos Macacos slum
in Rio de Janeiro October 20, 2009. The man is suspected to have been
killed by rival drug gangs, residents say. Brazil's president offered on
Monday nearly $60 million in federal money to help Rio de Janeiro
police combat drug gangs after 17 people were killed in weekend violence
that raised questions over the city's ability to safely host the 2016
Olympics. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Federal
policemen and soldiers stand guard near seized barrels they suspect
contain the ingredients to make crystal methamphetamines during an
operation against the Michoacan cartel known as La Familia (The
Family) in Apatzingan in Mexico's state of Michoacan, October 29, 2009.
REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar
The slain body
of a man killed in a drive by shooting is pictured at a police crime
scene in the municipality of Guadalupe, neighbouring Monterrey April 24,
2010. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
Mexican soldiers
escort suspected drug hitmen as they are presented to the media at a
military base on the outskirts of Monterrey April 26, 2010. The army
freed seven people after a shooting with drug hitmen in the municipality
of General Bravo. The army also seized 10,000 bullets, 311 magazines, 4
grenades, 12 vehicles and radios, according to local media. Three
gunmen died during the shooting. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
Bodies hang from
a bridge in a commercial area of Cuernavaca August 22, 2010. Four
hanged bodies were found with severed heads and genitals, local media
reported. REUTERS/Margarito Perez
Members of a
forensic team work near garbage bags containing the dismembered bodies
of four people in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos near Guadalajara
September 28, 2010. The bags were found at a bus station.
REUTERS/Alejandro Acosta
Police women
stand guard outside a house, the site of a suspected mass grave, in
Ciudad Juarez October 4, 2010. Forensic investigators and the military
are searching for the remains of victims of drug crimes, according to
local media. REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez
A fireman
prepares to bring down one of two male bodies hanging from a bridge in
Tijuana October 11, 2010. Both men had been decapitated and were hanging
from the bridge with their hands and feet bound. REUTERS/Stringer
A gold-plated
Kalashnikov automatic rifle and a gold-plated silencer are shown, among
other weapons, during a media presentation in Guadalajara October 13,
2010. The army showed drugs, tactical police equipment and weapons
seized during a raid on a farm after an anonymous citizen report.
REUTERS/Alejandro Acosta
Federal
policemen stand guard near the slain body of a comrade in Ciudad Juarez
October 15, 2010. Suspected drug hitmen shot several times and killed a
plain-clothed federal policeman while he was driving his vehicle at the
hotel zone, according to local media. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
Residents look
at a crime scene where three members of a family were gunned down in
Ciudad Juarez October 17, 2010. Drug hitmen killed three persons (a
woman and two men) and left one more injured after an attack at their
home in a working class neighbourhood, according to local media.
REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
Marisol Valles
Garcia (C) attends a news conference with Mayor Jose Luis Guerrero (R)
and local official Andres Morales, in Praxedis G.Guerrero October 20,
2010. Twenty-year-old Garcia is the new police chief of one of Mexico's
most dangerous drug war border towns, the only person to take the job
where local cops have quit or been killed. REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez
A dead man sits
in the passenger seat of a car which crashed after a police chase next
to the body of another man lying by the curb in Ciudad Juarez October
20, 2010. Another car in similar condition was found next to this one
with a dead man and a dead woman inside and it was not immediately clear
if the people in the vehicles were shot dead by the police or if they
died when their cars crashed during the chase. No police report of the
incident was available. Local media reported 12 crime related deaths in
the city on Wednesday. REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez
Morgue workers
carry a coffin containing an unidentified body at the San Rafael
cemetery on the outskirts of the border city of Ciudad Juarez October
22, 2010. The bodies of 21 men and four women, killed in drug-related
incidents, were buried on Friday after being held in the city morgue for
several months without being claimed by relatives. REUTERS/Gael
Gonzalez
Morgue workers
place a coffin containing an unidentified body into a grave at the San
Rafael cemetery on the outskirts of the border city of Ciudad Juarez
October 22, 2010. The bodies of 21 men and four women, killed in
drug-related incidents, were buried on Friday after being held in the
city morgue for several months without being claimed by relatives.
REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez