HUMAN RIGHTS: Mexico Mass Murder Revealed

In Tamaulipas, Mexico 72 bodies, 58 men and 14 women, were found stockpiled on a farm ranch. The group of people was attempting to get to the United States as the product in a human trafficking sale. The origins of the victims begin in South and Central America and only one man from Ecuador, named "Freddy" survived the mass murders. Freddy accounts that,

"The group had been kidnapped by an armed gang and killed after they refused to work for them.

After escaping, he alerted marines at a nearby checkpoint. Some were sent to investigate and a shoot-out followed, leaving three gunmen and one marine dead, the military said." This is not uncommon in Mexico. In 2009, over a six-month period, 10,000 migrant workers were abducted, mainly for ransom according to the Mexican National Human Rights Commission. President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, addressed the issue and condemned the acts that occurred in Tamaulipas, blaming it on drug cartels who use, "extortion and kidnapping of migrants as a means for financing and recruitment because they are having trouble getting money and people". The bodies were removed from the farm and taken to San Fernando for identification.

This situation is alarming for the fact that this type of human rights violation occurs so commonly. It seems to me that the drug cartels have more power and influence on the nation of Mexico than the government. The cartels use fear and violence as a way to run their vast empires and because of the corruption that consumes Mexico's police and authority officials, many acts of violence are not even noted. It is truly a tragedy that this happens in a country so close to the United States, yet nothing seems to incite the US government to get involved.

Michael Hammersley

09/01/2010

8:06 p.m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11101398