cannabisnews.com: Mexico Lowers Mass-Grave Toll 





Mexico Lowers Mass-Grave Toll 
Posted by FoM on December 18, 1999 at 11:00:45 PT
By Mary Beth Sheridan, Los Angeles Times 
Source: Denver Post
Mexico's attorney general said Friday that a sweeping investigation of suspected mass graves for victims of drug traffickers is now expected to yield far fewer bodies than originally reported, and he blamed U.S. officials for giving erroneous information. It was an error. 
The operation would have gone a lot better without these leaks," Attorney General Jorge Madrazo told the Los Angeles Times in an interview. In an unprecedented operation, Mexican police and soldiers, accompanied by scores of FBI forensic experts, descended on several ranches south of the U.S. border near Juarez on Nov. 29. U.S. officials said at the time that 100 to 300 bodies could be exhumed, victims of the notorious Juarez drug cartel. However, in nearly three weeks of digging at four alleged mass grave sites, experts have uncovered only nine sets of remains. "I'm almost sure there will be more -- a few more," said Madrazo. He declined to give an estimate, but added, "There aren't 100." U.S. officials had initially described the joint investigation as a model of U.S.-Mexican cooperation in fighting drugs. But the apparent error in anticipating the scale of the graves has fed a wave of criticism of Madrazo. Mexican politicians have charged that the country's national sovereignty was violated by the attorney general's invitation to FBI agents to work at a Mexican crime scene. Despite his annoyance at U.S. officials, Madrazo said he didn't see any long-term damage to the bilateral relationship. In Juarez, the site of the graves, politicians and business people are planning a march today to protest what they contend is an unfair smearing of the city's reputation. Madrazo said the early reports could have resulted from a mix-up by U.S. officials who learned about the burial sites and assumed they contained all those missing in Juarez. Nongovernmental organizations have reported about 200 disappearances in the border city in recent years, including 22 U.S. citizens or residents. Many of those who vanished are believed linked to the thriving trade in cocaine, marijuana and heroin headed from Mexico to the United States. Newshawk: Sledhead Pubdate: Sat, 18 Dec 1999Source: Denver PostCopyright: 1999 The Denver Post Related Articles:Valley Of Death - Time Magazine http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3977.shtml Kin, Agents Frustrated As Juarez Hunt Fizzles - 12/12/99 http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3975.shtml Human Rights and the American Drug War - DrugSense http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3952.shtml Editorial: A Typical Week in the Drug War - DRCNet http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3948.shtml Massacres Reflect Failure of US War On Drugs-USA Today http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3866.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on December 18, 1999 at 11:35:09 PT
OOPS!
I Mean Sledhead! I didn't think you capitalized so I didn't! OOPS! Sorry!
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on December 18, 1999 at 11:33:02 PT
Numbers games
What difference does it make, whether those killed are killed in drug cartel murders or those killed by our own police? The number of bodies in a hole, or the number of drug related victims in a morgue? Drug War victims in a Third-World country or in any large American city? The whole matter is being covered by numbers. The real costs are simply not being counted. These are the numbers that DrugWarriors *don't* want you to see. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 18, 1999 at 11:32:50 PT
Thanks sledhead!
Thanks sledhead for sending the article. I don't think I would have found it. I believe there are more bodies out there but this is being hushed up for heaven knows whatever reasons at this point. I have become very cynical about getting the honest truth in articles. I see them pushing all this news about meth etc. Next thing they'll be asking for is more money! I know it is the next thing we'll read! It is spin, spin, spin!
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Comment #1 posted by Sledhead on December 18, 1999 at 11:23:37 PT
Are there really nine?
I question whether there were even nine bodies found. I think they were probably counting the number of finger bones they found & there actually is still a finger out there that they overlooked. Either that, or for every animal bone they found, they counted them as an entire human. More BS from the "drug warriors".
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