HomeNewsBriefMexico Arrests 8 'Gulf Cartel Members' over Nuevo Leon Massacre
BRIEF

Mexico Arrests 8 'Gulf Cartel Members' over Nuevo Leon Massacre

GULF CARTEL / 18 MAY 2012 BY GEOFFREY RAMSEY EN

The Mexican military has detained eight alleged members of the Gulf Cartel in connection with the dumping of 49 mutilated corpses in Nuevo Leon, a massacre which the Gulf apparently tried to blame on rival group the Zetas.

Officials from the Mexican Defense Department (Sedena) announced Thursday that the men were captured in the Nuevo Leon municipality of China by a military unit acting on a tip that Gulf Cartel operatives were in the area. The soldiers seized a kilo of white powder (likely cocaine), four rifles, a handgun, ammunition, and three hand grenades, as well as tactical and communications equipment.

The men are suspected of involvement in the recent dump of 49 dismembered bodies along a highway in the northern border state, and sources consulted by Milenio claim that the suspects may be able to lead investigators to where they disposed of the victims’ heads, hands and feet.

State authorities are investigating the authenticity of a YouTube video depicting the unloading of the bodies from a truck, which was accompanied by a warning in the name of the Zetas.

InSight Crime Analysis

The fact that the authorities suspect the Gulf Cartel of committing the massacre supports statements apparently released by Zetas, who Nuevo Leon state officials initially said were behind the violence. In response to these allegations, the group posted a series of banners, or “narcomantas,” in several states denying any part in the incident. They pointed out that a message left with the 49 bodies did not follow the group’s “house style” for referring to their rival. “[W]hen we hang banners we say ‘Las Golfas,’ and they say ‘Golfo,’” the banners stated.

The massacre was likely an attempt by the Gulf Cartel to “heat up the plaza,” a tactic used by drug traffickers, who commit acts of violence in another group’s area of influence in the hopes of sparking a law enforcement crackdown there.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CHAPITOS / 28 MAR 2023

The Chapitos and the Caborca Cartel are warring over fentanyl and methamphetamine drug routes in Sonora, Mexico.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING / 15 JUL 2022

A recent report has shed new light on how temporary work visa programs for migrant laborers can backfire.

HOMICIDES / 29 AUG 2022

Police in Guanajuato, Mexico, are accused of being in the pocket of the Jalisco Cartel. But do they have a…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…