3/3/2017 Los Angeles Times
The bodies of nine men and two women turned up one morning this week on the outskirts of Veracruz, a major port city on Mexico’s Gulf coast. Nude or partially clothed and bound at the ankles, the corpses showed the scars of torture and were accompanied by a sign: “You want a war, you’ll get a war.”
Authorities have not said whether they believe the bloodied bodies discovered Tuesday night were a warning from one drug cartel to another, or a taunt aimed at the Mexican government, which the same day had announced it was sending more federal troops to the state of Veracruz to combat a recent increase in killings there.
One thing is clear, however. More than a decade after then-President Felipe Calderon launched a crusade against drug cartels — dispatching tens of thousands of soldiers onto local streets to battle gangs — a drug war still rages, and the murder rate is once again rising rapidly.
Mexico Institute 