History knows many sophisticated methods of execution, from which we, modern people, goosebumps involuntarily run down your spine, and your heart clench with fear. Just imagine what life was like for people from past centuries, who were subjected to inhuman torture for even the slightest offenses. Judging by how cruel these executions were, we can say that our ancestors were bloodthirsty and evil and invented new types of execution for their own entertainment.
Death under an elephant
In Southeast Asia, execution with the help of an elephant, which crushed the condemned, was popular. Moreover, elephants were often trained to act in such a way as to prolong the death of the victim.
Walk the plank
This form of execution - walking along a plank overboard - was mainly practiced by pirates. The condemned often did not even have time to drown, because the ships were usually followed by hungry sharks.
Bestiary
Bestiaries were popular entertainment during the Ancient Rome, when the condemned entered the arena against wild hungry animals. Although sometimes such cases were voluntary and entered the arena in search of money or recognition, mostly political prisoners who were sent to the arena unarmed fell to the mercy of the victims.
Mazzatello
This execution was named after the weapon (usually a hammer) used to kill the defendant in the Papal States in the 18th century. The executioner read out the accusation in the city square, after which he hit the victim on the head with a hammer. As a rule, this only stunned the victim, after which his throat was cut.
Vertical shaker
Originating in the United States, this method death penalty now often used in countries such as Iran. Although it is very similar to hanging, there is a significant difference: the victim did not have a hatch opened under his feet or the chair was kicked out from under him, but the condemned man was lifted up using a crane.
Flaying
Flaying a person's body was often used to instill fear in people, as the flayed skin was then usually nailed to a wall in a public place.
Bloody Eagle
IN Scandinavian sagas a bloody method of execution was described: the victim was cut along the spine, then the ribs were broken out so that they resembled the wings of an eagle. Then the lungs were pulled out through the incision and hung on the ribs. At the same time, all the wounds were sprinkled with salt.
Roasting rack
The victim was secured on a horizontal grate, under which hot coals were placed. After this, she was slowly roasted, often stretching out the execution for hours.
Crushing
In Europe and America there was also a method similar to Indian elephant crushing, only here stones were used. As a rule, such an execution was used to extract a confession from the accused. Each time the accused refused to confess, the executioner added another stone. And so on until the victim died from suffocation.
Spanish tickler
The device, also known as a cat's paw, was used by executioners to tear and skin the victim. Often death did not occur immediately, but later as a result of infection in the wounds.
Burning at the stake
Historically popular method of capital punishment. If the victim was lucky, he was executed at the same time as several others. This ensured that the flames were much big death came from poisoning carbon monoxide, and not from combustion.
Bamboo
Extremely slow and painful punishment was used in Asia. The victim was tied over pointed bamboo shoots. Considering that bamboo grows phenomenally quickly (up to 30 cm per day), it grew directly through the victim’s body, slowly piercing it.
Buried alive
This method has been used by governments throughout history to kill convicted prisoners. One of the last recorded cases was during the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, when Japanese troops buried Chinese people alive.
Lin Chi
Also known as “death by a thousand cuts,” this form of execution involved cutting small pieces from the victim's body. At the same time, the executioner tried to preserve the life of the victim as long as possible.
Colombian tie
Drug cartels in Colombia and the rest of Latin America practice similar executions of traitors who give information to the police or competitors. The victim's throat is cut and the tongue is pulled out through it.
The war against drug cartels in Mexico has been going on for several years now, claiming many lives every day.
(Total 26 photos)
1. Doctors and nurses during a protest against violence in the Mexican town of Ciudad on December 7. On December 2, traumatologist and orthopedist Dr. Alberto Betancourt Rosales was kidnapped and his body was discovered two days later. (Dario Lopez-Mills/AP)
2. A policewoman stands near a car abandoned by attackers suspected of killing two of their fellow officers in the city on December 6. One police officer was killed in the shootout. (Dario Lopez-Mills/AP)
3. The bodies of three young people killed by armed criminals in the back of a pickup truck in the city of Acapulco on December 5. During the first weekend of December, 11 people were killed in drug wars. (Bernandino Hernandez/AP)
4. A soldier accompanies Edgar Jimenez Luga, nicknamed "El Ponchis", during his presentation to the press in Cuernavaca on December 3. Soldiers arrested a 14-year-old drug cartel gang leader as he tried to cross into the United States. Jimenez - by the way, a US citizen - is suspected of participating in a drug cartel in the state of Morelos, consisting of several teenagers who brutally killed their competitors. (Margarito Perez / Reuters)
5. Members of a forensic team work at a mass grave in Palomas, Chihuahua, on the other side of Big Bend National Park in Texas. Investigators recovered 18 bodies from 11 graves. (Reuters)
6. Mexican Federal Police escort 32-year-old Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, leader of the Aztec drug gang. The gang is suspected of several murders, with Gallegos being blamed for the murder of 15 young people in January this year during a party in Ciudad Juarez, as well as the murder of an American consulate employee in March. (Marco Ugarte/AP)
7. A Mexican soldier squats in a tunnel found under the Mexico-US border in Tijuana. US border agents have found a small tunnel under the Mexico-US border and seized a significant amount of marijuana from a warehouse in San Diego. About 30 tons of marijuana passed through this 548-meter-long tunnel, equipped with a guide system, lighting and ventilation. (Jorge Duenes/Reuters)
A forensic scientist places "Damaged" stickers on a car window at a crime scene in Guadalajara on November 22. According to local media, three men in the car were killed by unknown assailants. (Alejandro Acosta / Reuters)
9. Christians pray for peace at Macroplaza in downtown Monterrey on November 13. More than 30,000 people have died in drug violence since late 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched his sweeping campaign against the cartels. (Tomas Bravo/Reuters)
10. Eight-year-old Galia Rodriguez, the daughter of reporter Armando Rodriguez, who died in Ciudad Juarez, came to the anniversary of his death in the journalist's park on November 13. Earlier this year, Rodriguez, who worked for the publication El Diario de Ciudad Juarez, was shot and killed by unknown drug traffickers. (Gael Gonzalez/Reuters)
11. A man walks past a poster hung by members of the Zetas gang on a pedestrian bridge in Monterrey. Zetas criminals posted messages between trees and over bridges in Reynosa and other cities throughout the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, celebrating the death of Gulf Cartel gang leader Ezekel "Tony Tormenta" Cardenas, who was shot and killed by Marines the previous day. (Tomas Bravo/Reuters)
12. A forensic scientist examines a car containing the body of bodyguard Carlos Reis Almaguer on the outskirts of Monterrey on November 4. The bodyguard of the mayor of the municipality of San Pedro Garza Garcia Mauricio Fernandez was shot dead by unknown criminals. (Carlos Jasso/AP)
13. Relatives and friends attend the funeral of a drug war victim killed during a birthday party in Ciudad Juarez. (Gael Gonzalez/Reuters)
14. People clean up the bloody courtyard of a house in Ciudad Juarez. Thirteen people were killed and 15 injured when the house was attacked at a teenager's 15th birthday party. (Raymundo Ruiz/AP)
15. Morgue workers place coffins in graves at the San Rafael cemetery on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez. The bodies of 21 men and four women killed in the drug wars were buried in the city morgue for months after relatives failed to come forward to claim them. (Gael Gonzalez/Reuters)
16. Confiscated weapons from members of the Zetas gang found in a horse trailer, including rifles with enhanced ammunition, grenades and various ammunition. As a result, two people were arrested. (Miguel Tovar/AP)
17. Soldiers unload 134 tons of marijuana intended for burning at the Morelos military base in Tijuana. Soldiers seized the drugs earlier in the week during a raid. Heavily armed soldiers raided several houses in a poor neighborhood of Tijuana. As a result, 11 people were arrested and the drugs were burned. (Jorge Duenes/Reuters)
18. People gathered around a dove of peace figure made from candles in the courtyard. autonomous university Nuevo eon during a protest against violence and in memory of the murdered student Lucila Quintanilla in Monterrey. Once an oasis of peace and tranquility, this one of Mexico's richest cities has now become a battlefield for bloody drug wars. (Edgar Montelongo/Reuters)
19. A forensic scientist looks at a package with a human head and a message in Tijuana. (Alejandro Cossio/AP)
20. Mexican police work next to the body of a murdered man in Ciudad Juarez. Since the government declared war on drug cartels in late 2006, 30,000 people have died. (Jesus Alcazar / AFP - Getty Images)
21. Bound bodies 72 migrant workers at a ranch in San Fernando, Tamaulipas state. Marines discovered the bodies after several shootouts with drug dealers. (Tamaulipas "State Attorney General"s Office via Reuters)
22. Residents came to the funeral of the mayor of the tourist town of Santiago Edelmiro Cavazos in the city center. Drug traffickers have killed 17 mayors in Mexico since the beginning of 2008. (Tomas Bravo/Reuters)
23. Gold pistol with engraving and diamonds at the Drug Museum in Mexico City on August 18. In this unique museum you can see golden weapon, children's clothing with LSD stickers and religious paintings with cocaine. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP - Getty Images)
24. The grandmother of slain police officer Jose Ramirez cries over his body in Acapulco's Las Joya district on July 17. The attack also killed three of Ramirez's comrades. (Bernardino Hernandez/AP)
25. Security film at a crime scene in Ciudad Juarez on January 31. Gunmen stormed a birthday party, killing 13 people, mostly teenagers. (Alejandro Bringas / Reuters)
26. Police officers work at the scene of a terrorist attack on main road in the center of Ciudad Juarez on July 16. The criminals blew up a car near three patrol cars, killing two police officers and injuring 12 others. Another grenade exploded as medics and journalists arrived at the crime scene, leaving one person seriously injured. (Jesus Alcazar / AFP - Getty Images)
The Mexican drug war is an armed conflict between rival drug cartels, government forces and police in Mexico.
Although Mexican drug cartels have been around for decades, they have become more powerful since the collapse of the Colombian Medellin and Cali cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels currently dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States.
The arrests of cartel leaders have led to increased levels of violence as they have intensified the cartels' struggle among themselves for control of drug routes into the United States.
Mexico is the main foreign supplier of cannabis and the largest supplier of methamphetamine to the United States. Since 2006, 26 thousand people have become victims of the drug war. The drug war has become a national threat in Mexico. Since the 70s, some government agencies in Mexico have assisted in organizing the drug trade. The growing drug war in Mexico has also affected the United States. Mexico -- main source cocaine and other drugs entering the United States. In turn, the United States is the main source of weapons used in the showdown of drug cartels in Mexico. In certain areas of Mexico, drug cartels have accumulated military-style weapons, have the ability to conduct counterintelligence, have accomplices among the authorities and an army of rank and file from among poor young people seeking to join to them. The police and armed forces of Mexico and the US DEA anti-drug service are fighting against drug cartels. The Mexican government under the rule of Felipe Calderon for the first time hit smugglers, extradited them to foreign countries, and confiscated their money and weapons.
The US State Department estimates that 90% of the cocaine entering the country comes from Mexico and Colombia, the main producers of cocaine, and that illicit drug revenues range from $13.6 billion to $48.4 billion a year.
Military and forensic experts examine a handcuffed body outside a nightclub.
The body of a man on the side of the Acapulco-Mexico highway.
Soldiers enter the city of Ciudad Juarez to patrol the streets. The city is completely owned by drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.
Arrested gang members and their weapons.
The body of one of the killed bandits during a special operation to free hostages from the hands of drug dealers. Machine guns, cannons, ammunition, four trucks and about 2 tons of marijuana were also seized.
206 million US dollars - police catch when detaining methamphetamine producers.
Guns, drugs, cash and jewelry seized in several anti-drug operations in Mexico are displayed during a press conference at the Attorney General's headquarters in Mexico City.
Seized 1.2 tons of cocaine.
134 tons of marijuana at the Morelos military base in Tijuana, destined for destruction.
The scene of the murder of 8 people involved in drug trafficking.
Gold and silver pistols encrusted with precious stones from members of one of the gangs, found during house searches.
An arrested drug dealer who was holding several people hostage.
In the coffin is three-year-old Iliana Hernandez, shot along with her father by unknown assailants.
A friend mourns the body of Sergio Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who tried to cross the US border and was apparently killed by American border guards.
The bodies of two men with their hands and faces tied. The reasons for the murder are unknown.
Two bodies hanging on a bridge in the center of a Mexican city. The reason for the execution is either a showdown within gangs of drug dealers, or an act of intimidation for everyone trying to cooperate with the police.
After a police shootout with a gang of drug dealers.
Searching for bullets near shot young men in handcuffs. The reason for the murder is unknown.
More than a ton of cocaine, which was shown to the media after the arrest of a drug shipment.
A police officer guards a crime scene where four people were shot dead in the border city of Ciudad Juarez - the... dangerous place Mexico. More than 2,000 people have died this year in Mexico's drug war, mostly between rival gangs, as they fight to control U.S. drug smuggling that passes through the city.
On the woman's nails are sheets of marijuana and a portrait of one of the drug lords.
Marijuana plantation.
The box in which the woman's corpse was found. Initially it was thought that the box might contain a bomb.
After a shootout between bandits and police in Ciudad Juarez.
Approximately two tons of seized cocaine are being tested at the naval base.
Ciudad Juarez. Murdered members of the city's local government.
Arrest of a pregnant woman for possession and distribution of drugs.
A policeman stands outside a Mexican house where members of a drug gang consisting mainly of Colombians were arrested.
Found corpses of employees of a law firm, thanks to which drug dealers were previously arrested.
The body of a man in Guatemala after a shootout in the street.
Colombian police check packages of cocaine after a flight with drugs weighing three and a half tons was delayed.
One of 17 bodies dumped in prominent locations in Rio de Janeiro just after the president announced a $60 million anti-crime budget ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
The number of victims is no less striking than the sight of the bodies of murdered people hanging from highway overpasses. According to BBC News between 2006 and 2012, more than 77,000 people died in Mexico due to drug-related violence. In an article published by the Stanford Review entitled: "A Brewing Storm: Mexican Drug Cartels" and the Growing Violence on Our Border states that drug-related homicides have increased by 300 percent between 2007 and 2008. The Mexican drug cartels are terrible and use any means to achieve their goals, from beheadings and torture to human trafficking and massacres. Rival cartels fight for control of territory and drug supply routes. Allegiances change, people pay bribes, former enemies form alliances to fight new groups and wage war on each other.
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared a Reagan-style war on drugs and drug cartels, ordering the army to capture drug cartel leaders. Mexico's current president, Enrique Pena Nieto, is taking a different approach by tackling violence at the local level. Nieto also said that local and government authorities will no longer work directly with the FBI and DEA when it comes to releasing classified information. Corruption has long been a problem within Mexico's law and military, further complicating the country's efforts to stop cartel violence. One thing is certain: until the demand for drugs disappears, the cartels will fight to control the supply. Below are the seven deadliest drug cartels in Mexico:
7. Tijuana Cartel
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Tijuana Cartel, run by the Arellano Felix brothers, was one of the largest and most feared groups in Mexico. At the height of its power, the cartel infiltrated Mexican law enforcement agencies and the judicial system. He controlled the transportation and distribution of multi-ton shipments of cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine. The cartel had a reputation for excessive violence. In 1998, Ramon Arellano ordered an attack that killed 18 people in Baja, California. However, since 2006 Sinaloa cartel(Sinaloa Cartel) took control of most of the territory that was once under the control of the Tijuana group. Although the Tijuana Cartel still exists, due to several deaths, arrests, internal conflicts and the growing power of Sinaloa, it was reduced to a small group of scattered cells.
6. “New” Juarez Cartel
The Juarez Cartel, located near the Mexico-US border near El Paso, Texas, has long been a major player in cocaine trafficking in the United States. The Juarez Cartel, also known as the Vicente Carillo Fuentes Organization, generated $200 million in weekly profits until the death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes in 1997, which marked the beginning of the group's decline. In September 2011, the Mexican Federal Police announced that the crime syndicate was now called the New Juarez Cartel. He has an armed force known as La Linea, a street gang known for beheading enemies, desecrating their bodies, and dumping them in public places to create panic and fear. The main rival of the New Juarez Cartel is the Sinaloa Cartel, which, according to many this moment maintains control over for the most part drug trafficking in the city of Juarez. In 2012, 2,086 people died in shootouts over territory, and according to CNN, their murders in the city of Ciudad Juarez still remain unsolved.
5. Knights Templar Cartel
The drug cartels are in constant confrontation, trying to prove who is most feared. The Templar cartel's first victim was hanged over an overpass with a note claiming the man was a kidnapper, instantly giving them a reputation as a group as brutal as a barbarian syndicate. The cartel got its name from the Templars of the Middle Ages who defended Jerusalem and according to a book by journalist Ioan Grillo called El Narco: The Criminal partisan movement Inside Mexico" (El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency) the Templar cartel claims to be the protector of the state of Michoacan.
The group formed in 2010 after the alleged death of Nazario Moreno, leader of the La Familia Michoacana cartel. The Templars made their presence known by displaying more than 40 "narcos," or drug cartel banners, across the state that read, "We maintain and protect order, prevent robberies, kidnappings, extortion, and try to keep the state safe from a rival organization." According to Ioan Grillo, this heroic, illegal, Robin Hood-like approach to crime and community has led to members of the Templar cartel now being considered celebrities. The cartel controls operations in Michoacan, Morelos and the state of Mexico. Their latest showdown was with the Jalisco New Generation cartel, which is trying to gain control of Michoacan.
4. Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or Mata Zetas
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel was founded in 2009. According to news portal International Business Times, three men were found murdered in an abandoned truck with a note that read: "We a new group Mata Zeta, we are against kidnapping and extortion and we will fight it in all states for a cleaner Mexico.” In 2010, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel expanded its rhetoric and declared war on all other Mexican cartels, declaring its intention to take over Guadalajara. The cartel is currently fighting with Los Zetas for control of this city, as well as control of the states of Jalisco and Veracruz.
In 2011, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel claimed responsibility for what was called the Veracruz Massacre. Near shopping center Thirty-five bodies were found on a dirt road. The cartel also claimed responsibility for 67 murders the next day. In response to the violence and executions, the Mexican government launched a campaign with the army called Operation Veracruz Seguro.
3. Gulf Cartel
Founded in 1930 by smuggler Juan Nepomunceno Guerra, the Golfo Cartel is considered the oldest criminal organization in Mexico. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, “the Golfo Cartel is responsible for transporting multi-ton shipments of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana from Colombia, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico into the United States.” The organization is also involved in money laundering, bribery, extortion, and arms trafficking.
After the split with Los Zetas (it is unclear which of the two cartels started the conflict that led to the breakup), the power of the Golfo Cartel weakened somewhat. It suffered the loss of important leaders, and the struggle itself led to several deaths and arrests in Mexico and the United States. However, according to the news portal InterAmerican Security Watch, the Golfo cartel still maintains control of its main smuggling corridors into the United States.
2. Los Zetas
According to the US government, Los Zetas is the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico. In 1999, commandos from the elite Mexican army defected, founded Los Zetas and began collaborating with the Golfo cartel. The name Los Zetas comes from the tactical radio call sign for commanders in the Mexican Army.
By 2010, Los Zetas had broken away from the Golfo cartel and, according to Ralph Reyes, head of the drug enforcement agency in the Mexico zone, Central America, they have "taken a leading role in carrying out most of the drug-related murders, beheadings, kidnappings, and extortions that occur in Mexico." Since the San Fernando massacre, which killed 193 people, until the 2008 Morelia grenade attack, which killed eight people and injured more than 100, Los Zetas have carried out several high-profile attacks on civilians and members of other groups. Today, Los Zetas control 11 Mexican states and continue to train new mercenaries through several campaigns.
1. Sinaloa Cartel
According to US intelligence, the Snaloa cartel, also known as the Pacific Cartel or the Guzman-Loera organization, is the most powerful drug cartel in the world. The Sinaloa cartel is responsible for importing more than 200 tons of cocaine into the United States between 1990 and 2008, according to the US Attorney General. Even though the Sinaloa cartel left 14 severed heads in boxes in front of the mayor's office in Nuevo Laredo in 2012, the cartel leader, El Chapo, preferred "bribery over bullets."
Until 2008, the Sinaloa Cartel was primarily associated with the territories in the Golden Triangle, which includes the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua. However, that year the syndicate moved into the state of Ciudad Juarez and began a bloody turf war with the local cartel led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. The conflict killed 5,000 people and, despite former Mexican President Felipe Calderon sending wax to quell the violence, Juárez became the most dangerous city in the world. The Sinola cartel controls 17 Mexican states.
Mexicans have never been known for being law-abiding. Their national hero- a mixture of an American cowboy and a Caucasian horseman. A stern, dark macho in a sombrero and with a luxurious mustache launches a hurricane of lead at his enemies and disappears into the sunset. And on occasion, he goes into mortal combat for the happiness of the people against oppressors of all stripes, simultaneously robbing government caravans and the haciendas of respectable lords bristling with trunks.
Even before the appearance of the Spanish conquistadors, the Mexican soil was thickly saturated with blood. Now stronger, now weaker, it did not stop pouring here even for a day. In December 2006, Mexico began new round violence and chaos, the end of which is not visible even through the most rose-colored glasses.
With good intentions
Drug cartels emerged in Mexico decades ago. Their ancestors began by supplying alcohol to their northern neighbor, exhausted by Prohibition, in the 20s.
The noir days of bottled moonlight, jazz, Tommy guns, hats and coats in the United States gave way to disco rhythms, afro hairstyles, distressed jeans, speedboats and packets of white Colombian powder marked “999”.
In the 70s and 80s, Mexicans lived modestly in the shadow of the powerful and prosperous Colombian cartels, engaged in transit for a small percentage. But one day, the US drug control department flew out from behind the hills with a cheerful roar and punished Escobar and other Colombians in the name of goodness and justice. And also for the sake of the sympathy of American voters, concerned about suspicious behavior and the persistent white coating under the noses of most show business stars.
“Yes, it’s just some kind of holiday!” - the Mexicans exclaimed. And they took matters into their own hands.
By the mid-2000s, Mexican drug mafias began to dominate the underworld south of the Rio Grande River. They more or less divided their spheres of influence, had strong mutually beneficial relations with the authorities and security forces, practically did not touch the civilian population and sometimes even drove out petty punks so as not to interfere with serious lords and dons doing serious business.
The flow of substances to the north steadily and confidently grew by leaps and bounds. The population was saddened by the extreme corruption and the merging of the authorities with the bandits. But the Mexicans were no strangers to this. Traditional, so to speak, values. Centuries old.
American alcohol producers began to sound the alarm: the target audience smokes and smells! Washington decided to force the Mexican authorities and police to break away from the fascinating process of counting the drug lords' dollars and do something about this disgrace.
Otherwise it could turn out to be a bloody undemocratic regime. With all the consequences.
The Mexicans irritably answered the damn gringos: “Well, OK.” And from time to time they would arrange lazy shootouts with some cartel just for the sake of formality.
Meanwhile, in Mexico, the ambitious Felipe Calderon won the presidential election. He longed for loud and quick fame, as well as people's love. There were two ways: fight poverty and fight drug cartels.
Felipe Calderon It seemed to Alderon that the second was much simpler. You send troops, they shoot and put everyone in prison. The masses rejoice, the Americans rejoice and send tons of investment.
And so on December 11, 2006, Senor Felipe sent federal troops to the state of Michoacan to defeat the drug cartels. He had the best intentions, but the effect was like hitting a hornets’ nest with a brick.
Pandora's Box
Special operations, arrests and murders of cartel leaders destabilized a gigantic criminal system that was firmly ingrained into the body of Mexican society. The system of balancing interests that had been built over the years collapsed. Authoritative dons lost control, and in their place came desperate and frostbitten leaders who sought to rule and conquer while their neighbors were in chaos.
There were two main troubles.
First: drug cartels by that time numbered tens of thousands of active members. And hundreds of thousands - if not millions - profited from them: from beggars in the slums to representatives of the social elite.
As long as the cold war between drug lords continued, this was quite tolerable. But when decapitated, destabilized and turned into a conglomerate of violent factions of the mafia, they began unlimited feudal wars over lands, cities, plantations and drug smuggling routes, countless people and entire states were affected.
Loyalty to one group or another has become more important for millions of Mexicans than national or religious affiliation. They kill and die for this.
Poems and songs are written and films are made for the glory of the cartels, their leaders and militants. And mafia coats of arms and symbols are worn with no less pride than the coats of arms and symbols of powerful dukes or counts in the Middle Ages.
The cartel battles are coming in shape small war, often urban, but they involve hundreds of thousands of people. And even for an innocent person, a careless word is enough to disappear forever, sometimes along with family and friends.
The second problem: the quality of cartel fighters. Even before the start great war their leaders began to attract professionals from security forces to create their own private intelligence services and special forces. The Mexican budget, with its eternal shortage of money and prohibitive corruption, pays ridiculous and sad salaries to the defenders of the state. But drug lords are ready to shower professionals useful to them with gold. The result is obvious.
heart of Darkness
It all started with the leaders of the El Golfo cartel, which traditionally owned the coast Gulf of Mexico, began to attract the best specialists from police and military special forces into their service. From them gradually formed one of the most powerful, formidable and terrible private intelligence services in the world, known as Los Zetas.
Their fighters knew and were able to do everything that the Mexican special forces, who were diligently trained by American instructors to fight the cartels, can do. But at the same time they did not have any legal or moral restrictions - except for naked efficiency.
Armed "Los Zetas" Soon Los Zetas became so strong that they declared war on El Golfo and turned into a new cartel.
In addition to the highest professionalism, which was head and shoulders above any other criminal organization and most units of the police and army, they relied on extreme cruelty.
What Los Zetas are doing to prisoners will make most terrorists in Syria and Iraq sick.
Their executions are comparable only to the methods of the dark elves from Warhammer - only, unfortunately, they are completely real. Being dismembered alive with a chainsaw is, so to speak, a special mercy.
Los Zetas were also big fans of documentaries. The Los Zetas pros swept through Mexico like a legion of Night Lords.
La Resistance lives on!
In 2010, opponents of Los Zetas realized that they needed to unite against this threat.
The ancient and powerful drug mafia "Sinaloa" has joined forces with the barely holding enclaves on the coast of "El Golfo" and the recently emerged cartel in the southwestern state of Michoacan with the wonderful name "Templars".
The story of the Templars is typical, sad and instructive. Initially, they arose as a beautiful cartel idea with high moral values. They say, of course, we push coke, weed, heroin and methamphetamine - but we help the poor, fight street crime, keep order... and most importantly, protect peaceful cities from the horror of “Los Zetas”, which had already crossed the state line.
At first, residents of the state supported the Templars. This was a terrible mistake. The cartel leaders were unable (or perhaps unwilling) to maintain any semblance of the high ethical standards they claimed.
The failed “Robin Hoods” turned out to be perhaps the most frostbitten gang in Mexico.
They did not practice the terrifying and sophisticated execution methods of Los Zetas, but their numerous fighters perceived the residents of the state as legitimate prey. Michoacán has been gripped by the most unbridled Mad Max-style violence. Civilians were killed, robbed, raped in hundreds and thousands for the slightest disobedience or simply because they wanted to.
As a result, entire cities in the state rebelled. Desperate to wait for help from the thoroughly corrupt police and army, their residents armed themselves, created powerful self-defense units and began to exterminate Templar cells.
The Avengers of the People take matters into their own hands Those trying to “restore order” (or rather, “drive the rebels into a stall”), the police were formally expelled from the cities along with their helicopters and armored cars. Anarchist self-government began to form in Michoacán, and it was noticeably more decent than in Father Makhno’s Wild Field or among the Spanish anarchists during the Civil War.
It didn't last long. The government was more afraid of the anarchist communes than of any drug cartel. The leaders of the movement were imprisoned. Some of the detachments reconciled with the police and received semi-official status. Some continued the fight, which required money, and they themselves did not notice how they turned into small drug mafias.
The taste for power led to the fact that more and more often self-defense units used force not against the Templar militants, but by dividing power, drugs and money, or oppressing their own neighbors. However, the Templars could not withstand the external and internal war and after a few years they finally collapsed.
Tradition, innovation and victorious humanism
More than a decade after the Mexican drug war began, the fight continues with no end in sight. But some trends are quite noticeable.
The fearsome Los Zetas have lost much of their once vast territory and now control relatively small tracts of land along the Gulf of Mexico. The bet on terror did not pay off: after the first victories, both cartels and civilians, and the authorities with the security forces.
War is war, money is money, but even by Mexican standards, the cruelty of Los Zetas turned out to be excessive.
And their once unsurpassed elite units Over the years of endless battles, most of the experienced operators and commanders were lost.
In turn, other drug mafias also recruited many professionals and created their own special services and special forces. The gap between the capabilities of Los Zetas and their enemies has narrowed.
This whole story is very reminiscent of Syria and Iraq a few years later. And the situation with certain lovers of black banners and high-quality video, banned throughout the civilized world: professionals died, and the atrocities not so much intimidated as enraged enemies near and far. The ending is a bit predictable. In addition, Los Zetas is now split into several warring factions, which does not increase their chances of revenge.
Now most of Mexico is controlled by an alliance: the old, venerable Sinaloa cartel and the young, ambitious Jalisco New Generation. They countered the Los Zetas terror with a combination of competent strategic planning and emphasized moderation in violence. Which, unlike the arrogant Templars, they managed to implement. To avoid competition, Sinaloa has focused on exports to the United States, while Jalisco is expanding drug smuggling into Europe.
"I am a cucaracha, I am a cucaracha..."
And the war continues. The cartels are at war with each other, and there is intense fighting between factions within them.
The government does not abandon attempts to defeat the groups, they respond with machine gun fire and explosives. In 2017 alone, and according to official data alone, more than 23,000 people died in this war.
Ladies from drug cartels diligently maintain Instagram accounts, where they diligently pose with a variety of weapons IN last years More and more women are joining militants and cartel killers - there is little work, no money. And in their desperation and ferocity, the Mexican senoritas will give odds to many notorious machos. Mountains of corpses and wads of dollars are growing in the estates of drug lords, millions of destinies are broken due to drug use. And all this - to the cheerful tunes of “drug ballads”, glorifying “their” cartels and ridiculing the enemy’s.
The anthems of the terrifying Los Zetas could easily be mistaken for children's songs, comic ballads about frivolous lords and their branch-horned husbands, or rhythmic dance music to turn off the brain and turn on hormones.
No surprise, this is what Mexico is all about.
Here, bloody Aztec ferocity has long been inextricably fused with not even Spanish, but Italian frivolity.
Suffice it to recall the text of the once famous “Cucarachi”. In one traditional version of the text, the poor cockroach can no longer run because his legs have been torn to hell. In another version - because he smoked all the grass, but nothing else.
A bloody chainsaw massacre to the fiery rhythm of “Cucarachi” is perhaps the most accurate image of what is happening in Mexico. And there is no end in sight.