MEXICO CITY—Mexico's increasingly violent war on organized crime hit a new low on Wednesday after the discovery of 72 bodies at a remote ranch near the U.S. border.

The gruesome discovery of 58 men and 14 women came after a firefight between presumed gunmen from a drug cartel and Mexican Navy marines. One marine and three drug gang members were killed in the two-hour battle, the Navy said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The bodies were all discovered in a warehouse on a ranch in Tamaulipas state, 90 miles from the Texas border, the Navy said.

A federal official said the victims may have been migrants from Central and South America making their way to the United States and killed by the drug gang, according to the Associated Press.

Mexican newspaper El Universal, quoting a federal official, said the migrants may have been captured by a drug gang and were killed after refusing to work for the cartel, either as gunmen or in other areas of organized crime like prostitution.

Excelsior newspaper said investigators believed the victims had all been killed at roughly the same time—raising the possibility that they were killed in one, single massacre.
Mexico's War on Drugs

Review key events in the fight to break the grip of Mexico's drug cartels.


Nearly 23,000 people have died in drug-related violence since 2006, according to the government, with northern border states experiencing the worst of the violence.

The incident began when an unidentified man approached a nearby Navy checkpoint and asked for help, saying he had been shot in a nearby ranch. The man is being treated at a hospital and is cooperating with authorities, the Navy said in its statement.

When marines went to check out the ranch, they came under heavy fire, the statement said.

Already some 28,000 people have died in Mexico's war on organized crime since President Felipe Calderon took power in December, 2006 and declared an all-out battle against powerful drug trafficking gangs that were gaining immense power and challenging the Mexican state.

The death toll is rising fast, including more frequent discoveries of mass graves. In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city popular with tourists and famous for its silver. Last month, another 51 bodies were found near a trash dump outside the northern city of Monterrey, a business capital that has been hard hit by a wave of drug-related crimes.

Both of those mass graves were sites where drug gangs disposed of rivals killed as part of an ongoing battle between cartels for the spoils of organized crime, including lucrative drug-smuggling routes into the U.S.

Tamaulipas has become one of Mexico's bloodiest states since the dominant local cartel, the Gulf cartel, split with its former allies, a bloodthirsty gang called Los Zetas. Mexican officials believe the Zetas, for instance, are responsible both for the recent assassination of a leading gubernatorial candidate in Tamaulipas and the recent killing of a local mayor.

The Zetas have also kidnapped and executed migrants before, according to officials and experts in organized crime.

Already some 28,000 people have died in Mexico's war on organized crime since President Felipe Calderon took power in December, 2006 and declared an all-out battle against powerful drug trafficking gangs that were gaining immense power and challenging the Mexican state.

If we really wanted to sap the power of drug cartels, we'd legalize drugs.

Now this may sound stupid...

But if the Mexican gorram government is trying to eradicate the cartels... why would it not behoove us to help out and kill us some trafficers? I bet it would do good in helping build diplomatic relations with Mexico and if we help clear the shitstains out of their Country... they would not have as much reason to try and sneak across the border to escape their crappy country.

win-win. TADA!

I doubt it would be good for the U.S. to send troops into Mexico. It would be costly in terms of money and possibly lives. We would also first need to sign a treaty with the Mexican government; to do otherwise is a violation of their sovereignty.

Sovereignty is not a sacred cow.

It is when it's ours.

Legalize pot. It's more trouble than it's worth to keep fighting what folks want, especially when it doesn't hurt them.