Here is a round-up of news coverage surrounding the discovery of 72 massacred migrants in the town of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Reports say the murder victims may have also been victims of human trafficking—an increasingly lucrative crime.
- CNN: Lead investigator in Mexico massacre is missing: “A lead investigator and another official looking into the massacre of 72 migrants whose bodies were found this week in northern Mexico are missing, President Felipe Calderon said Friday.”
- LA Times: Migrant misery, in Mexico: “drug cartels are diversifying into the lucrative human trafficking business, collecting fees of up to $7,000 a head from relatives in the United States while often forcing migrants to carry drugs with them across the border.”
- CNN: Human trafficking second only to drugs in Mexico: “In Mexico, [human trafficking] is a $15 billion-to $20 billion-a-year endeavor, second only to drug trafficking… An investigation by [Mexico’s National Commission for Human Rights] showed that 9,758 migrants were abuducted from September 2008 to February 2009, or about 1,600 per month.”
- Financial Times: The lone survivor of massacre speaks: “‘They pulled us out of the truck violently and demanded money,’ he told authorities after managing to escape, according to local press reports. ‘They said that they were Zetas and that they would pay us $1,000 every two weeks [if we joined them] but we didn’t accept and they opened fire.'”
- Associated Press: Mexico may get anti-laundering limit on cash sales: “‘The criminals, the killers, the kidnappers, those who traffic people and drugs, pass themselves off as prosperous businessmen,’ Calderon said at a ceremony announcing the proposal. ‘They buy mansions and luxury vehicles; they set up businesses or buy them to serve as front companies.'”