Mexico’s authorities have discovered 14 bodies in a series of clandestine graves in Acapulco, thought to be victims of drug violence.
As El Universal reports, ten of the bodies were uncovered on Wednesday, with four more found the following day. Authorities said that they also found a shrine to Jesus Malverde, the so-called saint of the narcos, as well as the head of a pig.
This follows the discovery of more than 400 bodies in a handful of graves in Durango and Tamaulipas, as well as thousands of bone fragments belonging to an unknown number of people in Coahuila.
Acapulco has been subjected to a series of turf wars over the past several years, turning it into one of Mexico’s focal points of drug violence. In the mid-2000s, the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel battled it out for control of the beach city. In recent months, the main protagonists in drug violence in the area have been the Independent Cartel of Acapulco and the South Pacific Cartel.
These two new groups, which formed from the remnants of organizations controlled by Edgar Valdez Villarreal (arrested in September) and Arturo Beltran Leyva (killed December 2009), are sponsored by various outside groups, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Familia Michoacana, in the case of the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, and the Zetas, who are allied with the South Pacific Cartel.
Authorities said they do not suspect any particular group of the crime.