Mexican drug cartels massacre 60 and dump bodies at US border.

WORLD Thursday, April 07, 2011

At least 59 bodies have been found on a ranch in Mexico's northern state of Tamaulipas on the US border, shortly after several bus-loads of migrants went missing.

Eight illegal mass graves filled with corpses were uncovered in La Joya, a farming village in the San Fernando township, authorities said.

They feared the number of dead would rise as remains have only been counted in three of the eight pits.

Police learned on March 25 that several buses had disappeared in the area, leading to their investigation which turned up the grisly find during a military patrol.

The Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said 11 people had been arrested and another five kidnapping victims had been set free in the same operation.

"With our work that is under way, we are trying to establish if the remains are those of the people who went missing on the buses," the prosecutor's statement said.

The graves are in the same town of San Fernando where 72 migrants from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador and Brazil were killed last August for refusing to work for drug traffickers.

Meanwhile, the ongoing deaths have sparked massive protests against drug violence that the government has failed to stem.

On Wednesday, thousands of outraged citizens took to the streets of 38 Mexican cities, venting anger over attacks linked to the country's illegal drug trade.

Crowds swelled to about 10,000 in Mexico City, while hundreds of drug enforcement officers from across the world met at an annual conference in the resort of Cancun.

The protest marches were organised following the murder of a well-known author's son along with four close friends and two others on March 28.

Organisers said protesters had gathered in 38 cities across the country, and outside Mexico's diplomatic missions in the United States, Britain, France, Argentina, Peru and Chile.

Seven major drug gangs are operating in Mexico whose bloody clashes have left more than 34,600 people dead since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon's government launched a military crackdown that has met with little success.

Over 3,000 people have been killed this year alone, according to figures cited by the Mexican media.

Authorities said Saturday that 20 people were killed in less than 24 hours in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez, which borders the US state of Texas.

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/world ... -us-border