Mexico's spokesman for security issues, Alejandro Poire.
Latin America: Week in Review, Mexico

In Northern Mexico, Bodies of 72 Migrants Found

August 26, 2010 By Staff

Mexico's spokesman for security issues, Alejandro Poire.

Today in Latin America

Top StoryThe bodies 72 migrants, who were allegedly making their way to the United States, have been found piled in a large room on a ranch in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

Initial reports assumed that the 72 bodies were part of a dumping ground that has become common practice in Mexico’s bloody drug war. However, if the bodies are confirmed to be migrants, the killings will draw increased attention to the violence of the human smuggling business operating within the country.

“The bodies were dumped about the ranch and were not buried. We are still investigating how long they had been there,” a Mexican Navy spokesman told Reuters.

Marines uncovered the site after a wounded Ecuadorean man who escaped the massacre approached a checkpoint they were occupying and told them where the site was.

The soldiers came under fire as they approached the ranch and afterwards seized assault rifles, ammunition, uniforms and vehicles from the site.

“Yesterday’s crime, for example, shows (cartels’) beastliness, their brutality and their absolute lack of human scruples,” Mexican President Felipe Calderón said, according to Reuters. “I am sure we will still see a phase of very intense violence, principally among cartels.”

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