Mexico Migrants Massacre: Drug Cartel Suspected In Killing Of 72

story by Huffington Post

MEXICO CITY — Mexican security forces were bringing refrigeration equipment for the bodies of 72 Central and South American migrants massacred by drug cartel gunmen at a remote ranch in northern Mexico, while investigators tried Thursday to determine their identities and why they were gunned down 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the U.S. border.

The sole survivor – an Ecuadorean who escaped and stumbled wounded to a marine checkpoint on a highway – told authorities that his captors had identified themselves as Zetas, a drug gang whose control of parts of the northern state of Tamaulipas is so brutal and complete that even many Mexicans avoid traveling its highways.

If confirmed as a cartel kidnapping, the Tamaulipas massacre would perhaps be the most extreme case seen so far and the bloodiest massacre of Mexico's drug war.

President Felipe Calderon said cartels are increasingly trying to recruit migrants as foot soldiers – a concern that has also been expressed by U.S. politicians demanding more security at the border.

He insisted that such activities indicated the cartels have been battered by thousands of troops and federal police battling them in their strongholds, and are desperate for alternate means of income.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/mexico-migrants-massacre-_n_695299.html