Rise in beheadings in Mexico ? sign of splintering drug gangs?

Brutality and shock tactics are a way for new gangs to assert themselves, and could be rising because of the splintering of larger transnational criminal organizations.

By Elyssa Pachico,?InSight Crime / November 4, 2012

??Insight Crime?researches, analyzes, and investigates organized crime in the Americas. Find all of?Elyssa Pachico?s work?here.

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According to Mexico?s Attorney General?s Office, conflict between organized criminal groups has resulted in the beheading of 1,303 people in five years, a grisly tactic becoming the hallmark of the war between the country's cartels.

El Universal reported?that decapitations steadily increased during President Felipe Calderon?s term in office: Just 32 beheadings were registered in 2007, while 2011 registered 493 such deaths between January and November.

The count will likely be similarly high for 2012. Last May saw the discovery of 49 headless and dismembered bodies in Nuevo Leon state, attributed to the Zetas, who are closely associated with the tactic.

According to El Universal, the border states most affected by drug violence are also the ones that see the greatest number of victims beheaded. Chihuahua state registered 171 such killings during Calderon?s term, followed by Guerrero (149), Tamaulipas (119), Durango (115), and Sinaloa (89).

InSight Crime Analysis

Prior to 2006, decapitations ? especially done en masse ? were a relatively rare phenomenon in Mexico. One of the most prominent cases took place in September 2006, when the Familia Michoacana announced their existence by leaving five heads on a dance floor in Michoacan. The brutality of the tactic was meant to attract attention, terrorize the local population, and intimidate any rivals.?

As the data recently released by the Attorney General?s Office shows, beheadings have only become more common since then. Decapitations are used to deliver threats to rival criminal groups or to government institutions (and even schools). 2012 has seen several mass beheadings:?from Guadalaja (18 killed) to Nuevo Laredo (14 killed, with the heads placed in ice chests in several locations across the city).

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/world/~3/vrYfKoNYYn4/Rise-in-beheadings-in-Mexico-sign-of-splintering-drug-gangs

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