Mexican drug cartels force kidnap victims to fight to the death in barbaric gladiator-style contests



Mexican drug lords are forcing kidnap victims to engage in fights to the death.



In a chilling twist to the drugs violence that has so far claimed over 40,000 lives, men are given machetes and knives and ordered at gunpoint to fight for their lives in gladiator-style contests.

The winner is often 'rewarded' by being forced to go on a suicide mission and kill rival cartel members by shooting up their town.

The idea of the contest is for cartel bosses to find new recruits who are willing to kill without mercy.

Barbaric: Forensic workers recover bodies from a mass grave near Acapulco, Mexico. Drug cartels have been forcing kidnap victims to fight to the death in 'gladiator' contests

Grim search: Army soldiers look for more bodies after another mass grave was uncovered. There are fears the victims were forced to take part in fights to the death

The horrific contests were revealed by a drug trafficker connected to the ultra violent Zetas cartel.

Zetas are believed to be behind the mass graves of hundreds of mutilated victims that have been found in recent months in central Mexico.

Almost 200 bodies were found near the Mexican city of San Fernando with most having died from blunt force trauma.

Many are thought to be victims of the blood sport where cartel chiefs re-enact the gladiator contests.

The cartel member, who is not identified, said the victims were bus passengers who were hijacked while travelling across Mexico.

Virtual impunity: Drug cartels have been using 'narco tanks' like this one to transport their goods across Mexico

Bloodshed: Forensic investigators removed the bodies of a police officer and his wife after they were gunned down by drug cartel hitmen

They are given hammers, knives and machetes and ordered to fight each other to the death.

The cartel member, who is identified by his first name of Juan, said the killing for sport is called 'who is going to be the next hit man?'.

'They cut guys to pieces,' he told the Houston Chronicle.

Juan said those who survive are taken captive and eventually given suicide missions, such as riding into a town controlled by rivals and shooting up the place.

Borderland Beat, a blog specialising in drug cartels, reported an account in April of bus passengers brutalised by Zeta thugs and taunted into fighting.

Murder scene: More than 30,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico in the last two years

'The stuff you would not think possible a few years ago is now commonplace,' said Peter Hanna, a retired FBI agent who built his career focusing on Mexico’s cartels.

'It used to be you’d find dead bodies in drums with acid; now there are beheadings.'



Hanna said the gladiator killings would be for 'amusement'.

A recent U.S. Senate report said the Zetas are the most violent of Mexico’s cartels.



They were formed by former special forces soldiers who deserted from the Mexican Army and joined the Gulf Cartel.

Since 2010 the Zetas have been rivals to the Gulf Cartel after splitting from them and running their own smuggling operations.



Beheadings, hangings and dismemberment of victims have become commonplace and the violence among rival cartels has spiralled out of control.

