Mexican police found the bodies of nine people hanging from a bridge on Thursday 8th August. Seven more corpses were found hacked up and dumped on the road.
In total, 19 bodies were found in the city of Uruapan — seven men and two women dangling from the bridge at 5.30 a.m.; six men and a woman left lying in various states of dismemberment on the street below, and more male bodies were found in a separate neighbourhood.
Photos in Mexican outlets showed human heads, arms and legs scattered about as if arranged in a display. The bodies hanging from the bridge were in various states of undress, some with their pants pulled down.
On the bridge was a banner, a warning from one cartel to others, which read in part: “Lovely people, carry on with your routines. Be a patriot, kill a Viagra.”
The Viagras are the local rivals of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG.
“This kind of public, theatrical violence, where you don’t just kill, but you brag about killing, is meant to intimidate rivals and send a message to the authorities,” said Mexico security analyst Alejandro Hope.
