Mexico

How much of what's going on in Mexico gets reported in the US?  I don't
really check many news sources any more, but I haven't noticed much on CBC
in Canada.  It seems every week, BBC reports on even more mass killings due
to the drug trade, seemingly precipitated by the "crack down" started in
recent years.

This one, spilling across the border into Guatemala:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13419947


Guatemala massacre survivor recalls gruesome ordeal
[image: Ranch where the attack took place]At least 27 people were found dead
at the ranch, many decapitated
 Continue reading the main
story<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13419947#story_continues_1>Related
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A farm worker in northern Guatemala has told how he managed to survive a
gruesome massacre at the hands of a suspected Mexican drugs cartel.

The man said armed men arrived at his ranch in Peten province on Saturday
demanding to see the landowner.

When workers refused to co-operate the gangsters bound their hands and
started hacking at them with machetes.

Many of the 27 victims were decapitated but the farm worker says he survived
by playing dead.

He lay in the grass until the gang had gone and was found by police who
arrived at the scene on Sunday morning.

"I thank God I am still alive," the man told AFP news agency. He has not
been named for security reasons.

"I played dead when they stabbed me in the stomach. Then I hid and left at
around 5am and I came across a pile of human heads," he said.
[image: Map locator]

The man is now under armed guard while being treated at a hospital.

The ranch is close to Guatemala's border with Mexico.

The attackers are thought to be members of the powerful Zetas drugs cartel,
the authorities say.

Police said the killings could be linked to a battle between drug gangs
fighting for control of the area.

They say there are also suspicions the massacre could be linked to the
murder of Haroldo Waldemar Leon - the brother of an alleged Guatemalan drugs
boss - who was shot in the same area on Saturday.

Guatemala President Alvaro Colom, who flew to Peten on Monday, condemned the
killings.

"This is a barbarity," he said. "We will get them even if they are hiding in
their lair. We will get them."

Mexican cartels are increasingly moving into northern Guatemala, an
important transit point for drugs smuggled from South America to the US.

Guatemalan law enforcement officials say the gang has increasingly moved its
operations south since Mexican President Felipe Calderon stepped up his
country's fight against the drugs trade.
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