Five beheaded bodies found next to road in Mexico’s Jalisco

The decapitated bodies in plastic bags were found just a week after a Mexican mayor was beheaded.

Police in Mexico have found the decapitated bodies of five men on a road in western Jalisco state as the country’s new government faces pressure to suppress organised crime.

Drivers on the road spotted plastic bags containing the remains in the municipality of Ojuelos, in northeastern Jalisco on Sunday, the state prosecutor’s office said.

“A report was received indicating that, on the asphalt strip of the road … there were several bags that looked like human silhouettes,” it said.

National Guard members who reached the scene discovered the headless bodies of five men. Authorities also located a nearby bag believed to contain the victims’ severed heads, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

Forensic experts are now searching the area for further evidence and trying to identify the victims.

Grisly murders with bodies disposed of in a public manner typically point to drug cartel involvement in Mexico. Jalisco is home to one of the country’s most powerful and violent organised crime groups, Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel (CJNG).

Additionally, the municipality of Ojuelos borders the city of Lagos de Moreno, which has been the scene of several violent murders blamed on organised crime. According to official figures, 1,415 people were murdered in Jalisco state between January and September of this year.

Violence is common across Mexico, particularly as local gangs clash with authorities. In 2006, Mexico’s government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking. Since then, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have gone missing

On October 6, the mayor of Chilpancingo city in southern Guerrero state, Alejandro Arcos, was killed less than a week after taking office and amid reports that he wanted extra protection. Local media reported that his head was left on the hood of a pickup truck.

Guerrero has long been a hub for opium poppy production, fueling violent competition among at least 16 drug-trafficking gangs. These armed groups have increasingly challenged local authorities, with tensions escalating in 2023.

Mexico’s first female leader – President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1 – faces a major challenge to tackle the cartel violence.

She has pledged to stick with her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots.

“The war on drugs will not return,” the leftist president told a news conference this week, referring to the United States-backed offensive launched in 2006.