• TERROR: In less than nine days, officials have found seven dismembered bodies in multiple locations across the Monterrey metropolitan area (pop. 4.6 million) in Northern Mexico in what experts see as a dispute among criminal gangs for drug distribution areas.
• CRISIS: Long considered Mexico’s industrial hub and seat of global manufacturers, the violence crisis in Monterrey was defined by Nuevo León state Governor, Jaime Rodriguez, as something “extraordinary” and who yesterday vowed for more “coordination” among law enforcement.
• INTIMIDATION: “These are messages to generate fear, fear and panic in society, to weaken authority…It’s a language (criminal groups) use to delimit their territory in areas of high incidence of consumption”, said Rafael Limones a security expert with Supera, a local civil society group.
• ADVISORY: For months, the US State Department has had an active “reconsider travel” advisory for the state of Nuevo León due to crime stating that gang activity are common in different parts of the state; the total number of dismembered bodies found in Nuevo León streets this year is 24.
