Locals in Guadalajara complained after they noticed the trailer’s stench following wave of violence that overwhelmed morgues

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Mexicans have reacted with outrage after authorities in the western state of Jalisco left a trailer full of decomposing corpses on the outskirts of Mexico’s second-largest city following a wave of violence which overwhelmed local morgues.

Locals in the Guadalajara suburb of Tlajomulco complained to police after they were alerted to the presence of the trailer by the stench.

“This affects our kids, it smells horrible and the longer it stays it’s going to stink even worse,” Patricia Jiménez told Reuters.

It soon emerged that the trailer had previously been parked by officials in the suburb of Tlaquepaque, but was moved on orders of the mayor.

It has now been moved to an industrial area near the state attorney general’s office, according to news reports.

Quick guide Mexico's war on drugs Show Hide Why did Mexico launch its war on drugs? On 10 December 2006, Felipe Calderón launched Mexico’s war on drugs by sending 6,500 troops into his home state of Michoacán, where rival cartels were engaged in tit-for-tat massacres. Calderón declared war eight days after taking power – a move widely seen as an attempt to boost his own legitimacy after a bitterly contested election victory. Within two months, around 20,000 troops were involved in operations. What has the war cost so far? The US has donated at least $1.5bn through the Merida Initiative since 2008, while Mexico spent at least $54bn on security and defence between 2007 and 2016. Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption.



But the biggest costs have been human: since 2007, over 250,000 people have been murdered, more than 40,000 reported as disappeared and 26,000 unidentified bodies in morgues across the country. Human rights groups have also detailed a vast rise in human rights abuses including torture, extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances by state security forces.



Peña Nieto claimed to have killed or detained 110 of 122 of his government's most wanted narcos. But his biggest victory – and most embarrassing blunder – was the recapture, escape, another recapture and extradition of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

Mexico’s decade-long war on drugs would never have been possible without the injection of American cash and military cooperation under the Merida Initiative. The funds have continued to flow despite indisputable evidence of human rights violations.



Under new president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, murder rates are up and a new security force, the Civil Guard, is being deployed onto the streets despite campaign promises to end the drug war. What has been achieved? Improved collaboration between the US and Mexico has resulted in numerous high-profile arrests and drug busts. Officials say 25 of the 37 drug traffickers on Calderón’s most-wanted list have been jailed, extradited to the US or killed, although not all of these actions have been independently corroborated. The biggest victory – and most embarrassing blunder – under Peña Nieto’s leadership was the recapture, escape and another recapture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel. While the crackdown and capture of kingpins has won praise from the media and US, it has done little to reduce the violence. Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP

The Jalisco state attorney general’s office has not commented, but an official in the office said the trailer was properly refrigerated and never “abandoned”.

The office also disputed press reports the trailer contained 157 corpses, with sources telling local media the number was closer to 100.

Jalisco’s general secretary Roberto López told local media that the state’s morgue had been overwhelmed by a surge in deaths, adding that a new morgue should be finished in a month and a half. “When it is built, these bodies will be transferred,” he said.

The row over the trailer – which erupted as the country celebrated its national day on Sunday – was yet another reminder of the grim toll from the country’s decade-long drug war.

Mexico’s homicide rate hit a record high in 2017 with 29,168 murders registered. The country recorded 2,599 homicides in July 2018, its most murderous month since 1997, when Mexico started keeping such statistics.

It was not the first time that the bloodletting has been so severe that local morgues have run out of space – similar incidents have occurred in the opium heartlands of Guerrero.

Mexico: bounty raised over $1m on drug cartel kingpin 'El Mencho' Read more

But the gruesome episode in Guadalajara has underlined how violence has spread to all corners of the country. The surrounding Jalisco state has deteriorated rapidly in recent months: 15 people were injured in May when a gun battle erupted in the city centre after a brazen assassination attempt on the state’s employment secretary.

In March, three film students in the Guadalajara suburb of Tonalá disappeared after unwittingly filming property associated with a drug trafficker when they were working on a college project.

Much of the violence in the region is the work of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) which has disputed territories across the country – especially those controlled by the rival Sinaloa Cartel, whose former leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was extradited to the United States last year.

More recently, CJNG has itself splintered into rival factions. In July, US and Mexican officials announced that had raised the reward to $1.56m for information leading to the arrest of the CJNG boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”.