CATHOLIC ONLINE REPORT: More mass graves uncovered in Tamaulipas
With the discovery of new mass graves in Tamaulipas, the Mexican drug was has been tied to about 3,220 murders in the first three months of 2011. These grim statistics are in fact a decline from the 3,690 killings in the last quarter of 2010. The Mexican government has yet to publish an official estimate.
Authorities are still not sure about the origin of the victims found in the pits, but suspect at least some had been abducted from buses
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Investigators uncovered 13 more bodies in mass graves in the violent northeastern state of Tamaulipas, where 59 dead were exhumed earlier this week. Seventy-two bodies have now been discovered since authorities began pursuing reports that gunmen had kidnapped people off of passenger buses travelling to towns near the U.S. border.
State Interior Secretary Morelos reported that nine of the bodies were discovered in one newly found grave, four others in another this week in the area around the city of San Fernando. The total now matches the number of migrants who died in a massacre near that town last August. Investigators are combing for more graves in the area.
Federal authorities said they have detained 14 people in connection with the crimes.
Officials began receiving reports late last month that gunmen were pulling men off buses on the stretch of road that runs through the municipality of San Fernando.
Relatives of people who have gone missing have begun showing up at a morgue in border city of Matamoros across from Brownsville, Texas, looking for friends and relatives. The victims have been reported missing anywhere from a couple of weeks, others a few months, some as long as three years.
Authorities are still not sure about the origin of the victims found in the pits, but suspect at least some had been abducted from buses.
The recent discovery comes just days after thousands of Mexicans protested the country's raging drug war. On the day of the march, dozens of bodies were found in graves near the country's border with the United States.
Demonstrators marched in cities across Mexico, holding signs condemning the wave of killing that has claimed more than 37,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and launched a military-led crackdown against drug cartels.
Body counts published by Mexican media indicate the death toll has fallen for two consecutive quarters for the first time since Calderon began his campaign.
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=40986
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