MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The bodies of 35 people with suspected links to organized crime were found in two abandoned trucks on a highway underpass in the eastern Mexican city of Veracruz yesterday, the local prosecutor said.
The bodies were discovered near a shopping centre in Boca del Rio, adjacent to the Gulf port city of Veracruz, state prosecutor Reynaldo Escobar told television station Milenio.
“These were people involved in organized crime,” Escobar said of the victims. Seven had been identified.
Newspapers Milenio and La Jornada said some of the bodies had their hands tied and showed signs of torture. A number had been pulled from the trucks and put on the pavement before the drivers fled.
About 42,000 people have been killed since President Felipe Calderon launched a campaign against drug cartels at the beginning of his term in late 2006. Most of that violence has been focused on the northern border with the United States.
Veracruz has been little affected so far, although a group of armed men hurled a grenade in August into a popular area of Veracruz city, killing one person.
