Drug Cartel Kidnaps 7 Teens in Mexico, Only 1 Survives

[Judi Lynn]

Story by Samyarup Chowdhury •
1d

Cartel hitmen kidnapped seven teenagers and left them for dead in an abandoned ranch in Zacatecas, Mexico.

Knewz.com has learned that although authorities found the boys, only one was alive.

The 18-year-old survivor Sergio Acevedo is currently in the hospital recovering from head injuries, where the police are guarding him. The other six boys have been identified as Diego Rodríguez, 17, Jorge Ocon, 14, Héctor Salcedo, 14, Gumaro Santacruz, 18, Oscar Rojas, 15, and Jesús Rodríguez, 18.

Acevedo, and the bodies of the six other boys, were found during search efforts in the area near the community of Casa Blanca, in the mountainous region of the municipality of Villanueva, Zacatecas. As of now, the police do not believe the boys themselves were involved with the drug cartel.

The boys were hanging out with a group of girls at a ranch in the La Soledad neighborhood on Sunday, September 24, when the kidnapping occurred, the Daily Star reported. A group of cartel hitmen brandishing guns raided the ranch and kidnapped the boys, following which they were forced into cars and driven nine miles away to another ranch.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/drug-cartel-kidnaps-7-teens-in-mexico-only-1-survives/ar-AA1hrG4y

[Chainfire]

1. Why?

[Judi Lynn]

2. It would seem impossible to onlookers from outside the area to even guess,

but this kind of crime has been going on, with shocking levels of brutality since the beginning of the current century. In this case, it's possible it reflects war between Sinaloa and the New Generation, which may or may not have entrapped complete strangers:


Gruesome video recalls darkest days of Mexico's drug cartel brutality
A gruesome video that may have recorded the last moments of five kidnapped young men has transported Mexico back to the darkest days of drug cartel brutality in the 2000s

ByThe Associated Press
August 16, 2023, 11:46 AM

MEXICO CITY -- A gruesome video circulated Wednesday on social media may have recorded the last moments of five kidnapped young men, and has transported Mexico back to the darkest days of drug cartel brutality in the 2000s.

Prosecutors in the western state of Jalisco say they are investigating the video, and relatives of the missing group of young friends told local media that their clothing resembled that worn by the men in the video.

The most horrifying thing is not just the pair of bound, inert bodies seen lying in the foreground. It is the fact that the youth seen bludgeoning and apparently decapitating another victim appears to be himself the fourth member of the kidnapped group of friends.

The fifth member of the kidnapped group — young friends who had traveled to attend a festival in the city of Lagos de Moreno in Jalisco state — may be the body police found inside a burned-out car in the area. The young men went missing Friday in an area known for cartel violence, and authorities have mounted a massive search for them.

. . .

The video features a text written over the image that says “Puro MZ,” an apparent reference to El Mayo Zambada, the leader of a faction of the Sinaloa drug cartel. But it was unclear who was responsible for the video.

More:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/horrifying-execution-video-recalls-darkest-days-mexicos-drug-102315432

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Here's an understated view of what happened when George W Bush applied some "fancy" Republican foreign policy to the US relationship with Mexico after Calderon was slipped into the Presidency after a totally dubious "win" in a disgusting election which triggered a vast reaction and an occupation of the city center for well over a month by enormous crowds of Mexican citizens, overflowing the city's center, at Zócalo Plaza:

The Mérida Initiative celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Yet since it began providing funding for security in Mexico, problems to do with violence and institutionalized corruption have worsened, suggesting flaws in both the approach and implementation of the Initiative.

The origins of the Mérida Initiative, a bilateral security cooperation agreement between Mexico and the United States, hark back to 2007 when former president Felipe Calderón appealed to the administration of President George W. Bush for assistance in tackling drugs and arms trafficking.

Since signing the agreement, the Mexican government has received nearly $2.9 billion in assistance from the United States. This assistance has supported the purchase of military equipment; training for judiciary personnel and improvement of courtroom infrastructure; military training along Mexico’s southern border; and the implementation of crime prevention programs.

Critics state that the Initiative focuses too heavily on the use of military forces to tackle organized crime. US aid to the program supported former President Felipe Calderón’s war on drugs, which led to a spike in homicide rates across the country that continue to rise today.

More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/analysis/merida-initiative-failings-violence-corruption/