Mexico discovers dozens of decomposing dead bodies, then reports 25 percent drop in violent crime

GlobalPost

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Monday announced an “encouraging” 25 percent drop in violence and murders in the first four months of this year.

Pena Nieto's comments came after the gruesome discovery of dozens of bodies across the country over the weekend. 

An anonymous tip led to the discovery of at least 11 badly decomposed bodies in five clandestine graves near Zumpango in the southern state of Guerrero on Saturday.

One report put the figure at 13 and said investigators planned to keep digging for more human remains. Nearly a dozen bodies were found in the same area in November 2012. 

This photo taken on June 3 shows mourners carrying the coffin of Mexican journalist Jorge Torres near Acapulco in Guerrero. Torres was kidnapped and murdered last month.  

Meanwhile, 15 bodies were found early Monday in the northern state of Sinaloa, including 12 in a pickup truck in the municipality of San Ignacio. At least one report said the bodies showed signs of torture.

Another three bodies were found in La Concordia.

The discoveries came as Pena Nieto told a business forum in Spain, where he is on an official visit, that the rate of violence and murders in Mexico fell 12 percent between 2012 and 2013, and by 25 percent in the first four months of 2014, compared with a year earlier.

King Juan Carlos of Spain receives Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto at the Royal Palace of El Pardo on June 9, 2014, in Madrid.

He said the figures were “encouraging.”

Pena Nieto also stressed that Mexico's security problems did not extend across the country.

They were concentrated in the states of Guerrero; the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, where rival drug gangs have been slaughtering each other in recent months; and the western state of Michoacan, where self-defense groups sprang up last year to confront one of the country’s major drug cartels. 

He might want to add Sinaloa to the list. 

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