Coming Soon to a Neighbourhood Near You . . .

Eleven decapitated bodies have been found outside the city of Merida on the Yucatan peninsula. Another decapitated body was found fifty miles to the east of Merida, in a town called Buctzotz. All the bodies showed signs of torture and were tattooed with star signs and the letter 'Z', suggesting that they had fallen victim to the country's growing drug war, which has left more than 2,700 dead so far this year.

Merida is a popular stopping point for tourists on their way to visit the Mayan pyramids at Chichen Itza. On the other side of the Yucatan peninsula is Cancun, a Las Vegas-style holiday destination popular with US tourists; an hour or so farther south of Cancun is the resort town of Playa del Carmen, where many US hotel chains have built five-star properties.

In an incident two years ago, several severed heads were rolled across the floor of a nightclub in the southern state of Michoacan. Earlier this week, four decapitated bodies were found in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.

The aim, according to government officials, is to create 'an atmosphere of terror'.
Jose Guzman, a Yucatan state prosecutor, said that the heads from the bodies found in Merida were still missing. “We believe that the executions were an isolated incident and not part of a strategy to destabilise the state,” he added.


Critics say this is wishful thinking. The resurgence of drug overlords in Mexico—along with endemic corruption in the police force and military, has led to a near-nationwide collapse in security. In May, the country's chief of police was murdered and, according to a recent study, Mexico now has more kidnappings than Iraq and Columbia.

Public outrage over Mexico's soaring crime levels reached a new intensity two weeks ago after the killing of a boy aged fourteen after his businessman father paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom money.