7 Badly Battered Bodies Dumped At Mexican Tourist Spot With Grim Cartel Messages

In Mexico’s Huasteca region, which is a picturesque coastal destination that attracts tourists, corpses of seven men were found Thursday.

The badly battered bodies, which were dumped in the Huasteca region popular with Mexican tourists for its waterfalls and crystalline rivers, were accompanied by an ominous message on them. The warning scrawled on the dead bodies read, “This is what happened to me for working with the Gulf." It was an apparent reference to the violent Gulf cartel which operates mainly along the U.S. border to the north, reported New York Post. The message was signed “Valles Operation O.B.,” which apparently was a reference to a rival gang.

The bodies did not seem to be from the township of Aquismon, where they were found Thursday, prosecutors in San Luis Potosi state said. They added that the men might have been murdered elsewhere and dumped along a roadway in the rural area. Photographs of the bodies showed extensive bruising on the corpses. It suggested that the victims had been beaten.

The U.S. Justice Department announced last month the extradition of former Gulf cartel leader Mario Cardenas-Guillen to Texas. It was on drug trafficking charges stemming from a 2012 federal indictment. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram said that for decades, the Gulf Cartel has used "intimidation and extreme violence to maintain control of its territories in northeast Mexico and smuggle deadly drugs into communities" across America.

According to the Independent, the Congressional Research Service in a recent report noted that the Gulf Cartel was the primary challenger to Sinaloa Cartel for trafficking routes in the early 2000s. But it is now fighting with its former enforcement wing for territory in northeastern Mexico.

Fox News reported that cartel violence is also being blamed for shooting attacks at two bars in north-central Mexico last month that left 11 people dead. There were handwritten signs left at the scenes of the killings. They suggested the attacks were part of a rivalry between two drug cartels. They have been apparently battling for control of Guanajuato state for several years.

Tom Homan, former Acting Director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said earlier this month that cartel violence will continue to spread into America. It is a result of Joe Biden administration's lack of immigration enforcement at the southern border.