The governor of the Mexican state of Michoacan has singled out one of the mayors in his state, several local police officers and one state cop as being responsible for the murder of several victims whose bodies were incinerated.
The murder took place this weekend in the rural community of Cuitzeo when authorities discovered nine incinerated bodies inside a vehicle and a 10th body nearby, Mexico’s SinEmbargo.Mx reported. Initially authorities believed that the victims had died in a failed attempt to steal fuel from distribution lines.
As Breitbart Texas has previously reported, the theft of fuel has long been a method used by cartel members to supplement their income. The fuel is usually sold on the side of the road and in some cases whole tankers are sold to energy companies.
According to Michoacan Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo, investigators soon learned that the victims had been murdered and then the scene staged. Aureoles has since singled out Juan Carlos Arreygue Nuñez, the mayor of the city of Alvaro Obregon, as the individual who ordered the murder. Michoacan state authorities have since moved to arrest Arreygue and the various police officers believed to have carried out the murder. Arreygue is even believed to have participated in the murder of the victims.
According to information from the Michoacan government, the murders appear to be tied to ongoing dispute between drug trafficking organizations. As Breitbart Texas previously reported, Michoacan has seen an increasing amount of violence at the hands of various drug cartels. One of those cartels, la Familia Michoacana (also known as Knights Templar) have earned a reputation for extreme violence and have even had sadistic rituals where human hearts are consumed. In addition to manufacturing and moving drugs, cartel members have branched out to extort taxes from farmers and local businessmen.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.