The head of the mayor who took office six days ago was missing. His head was chopped off by a drug lord and put on the roof of a car for display. This heartbreaking scene was not a movie special effect, but a real tragedy that happened in Mexico in 2024.

On October 6th, 2024, in the southwestern part of Mexico, in a city called Chilpancingo, Arcos, who had just been mayor for six days, was brutally murdered. In broad daylight, his head was chopped off and placed on the roof of a white pickup truck. Not only that, all the security ministers and secretaries appointed by him were also killed.

Mexican drug dealers have used the most brutal and straightforward actions to declare to the world that any Mexican officials who want to change the status quo and crack down on drug dealers will be tortured to death in the most brutal ways.

The scary thing is that this nightmare scenario has been going on in Mexico for decades.

In 2008, Gorrostieta, a well-known Mexican anti-drug hero, was elected mayor of Tichicheo, Michoacan, as the candidate of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional(PRI). Drug trafficking activities are extremely rampant in Michoacán, and it is one of the drug lords’ strongholds, with a level of ferocity that would put the Taliban to shame. After taking office, she expressed her "zero tolerance" attitude towards drugs on many public occasions. She said: "Many people, including children and women, sold their souls and were used by drug gangs just to bring back a piece of bread. This is completely intolerable." Such bold remarks completely angered the drug dealers, Gorrostieta The nightmare began.

In October 2009, Gorrostieta and her husband were attacked by a group of armed men, and her husband died. Three months later, she was shot three times by another group of masked militants and survived another disaster.

Unfortunately, even luck is powerless against Mexican drug dealers. On November 12th, 2012, Gorrostieta, who had left office less than a year ago, was kidnapped by drug dealers on the way to send her young daughter to school. According to witnesses, she begged the kidnappers not to hurt her daughter and then got into their car.

Five days later, her body was found on the side of a highway, with a piece of cardboard written with insults next to her. The scene was horrific. The forensic doctor determined that she was gang-raped and tortured by multiple people for more than three hours before her death. There were many marks on her body including stabbings, beatings, and burning. No one dared to imagine the kind of torture she suffered.

But Gorrostieta is not the first Mexican official to be brutally retaliated against for supporting drug control.

On July 14th, 2007, in the same state of Michoacan, multiple tied bodies were discovered in a wasteland on the outskirts of the state. Local police confirmed that there was a mayor and 11 detectives inside. The reason was that important leaders of the local drug cartel were captured. As revenge and warning, they kidnapped and brutally tortured the local mayor who supported anti-drugs.

In December 2008, dozens of decapitated corpses were discovered in various Mexican states. Without exception, these dead people were police officers and soldiers who had previously participated in anti-drug operations. These warriors, whose identities were kept secret, were precisely beheaded. It was obvious that they were betrayed by those around them.

On August 15th, 2010, Edel Miró, the mayor of Santiago, Nuevo León, Mexico, was arrested on his way home from get off work along with a dozen of his bodyguards and tortured to death.

In 2016, Cicera, the new female mayor of Temisco, Morelos state, Mexico, was sworn in. Before the election, this strong woman vowed to fight the evil forces to the end. However, she was shot and killed by drug dealers at home the next day, less than 24 hours after she took office.

In 2022, militants armed with live ammunition stormed into the building openly and killed dozens of officials, including the mayor, former mayor, public security chief, and presidential adviser, and destroyed most of the city's core personnel.

You thought this was the end? Their ferocity goes beyond that.

Mexican anti-drug hero, former Marine Angulo, died after being shot more than 40 times while trying to capture a drug lord. His deeds were widely publicized, and the Mexican government held a grand funeral for him, with the president in attendance. However, the day after Angulo's funeral, his mother, aunt and other relatives were murdered by drug dealers because they appeared on television.

What chilled the Mexican police the most was an absurd farce in 2019 that stunned the whole world. At that time, the Mexican police accidentally captured a drug dealer nicknamed "Rat" during an ordinary patrol. This man was the son of the leader of Mexico's largest drug cartel and the drug lord "El Chapo" Guzman. At that time, Guzman had been imprisoned in a U.S. prison, but the family's power still existed, and soon the photos of "Rat" being captured were passed to the drug cartel by the insider.

The police officers involved in the arrest never expected that as soon as they caught the drug dealer and prepared to take him back, they would be surrounded layer by layer. A massive armed group of drug dealers rushed from all directions, preventing the arresting police from breaking through on one hand, and preventing the government's support forces from entering the city on the other. In this riot, drug dealers not only used machine guns, high caliber sniper rifles, and miniature guns, but more importantly, they had real armored vehicles and even used anti-aircraft missiles.

The whole city fell into chaos.

What's ridiculous is that after dozens of hours passed, the government found that the support troops it sent could not enter the city at all, and the police patrols in the core area could no longer hold on. The Mexican government, which was in dire straits, made a decision to release "El Chapo" Guzman's son.

This decision came from the authorization of the Mexican President, who claimed that he was to protect citizens and avoid casualties. As a result, government officials announced the decision on TV, and police and drug dealers were photographed "shaking hands" on the street.

Although it sounds magical, in fact these are just small scenes in Mexico. In the 2010 anti-drug operation, more than 28,000 people were killed. A year later, this number soared to 40,000. In the past ten years, nearly a hundred mayors and thousands of police officers have been killed in Mexico. The mayor with the shortest tenure was shot and killed less than 2 hours after taking office.

The above are just the massacres against police and government officials. Massacres by drug cartel groups are also common against civilians who report, journalists who expose, and even netizens who support the government's anti-drug campaign. It can be said that they have reached the point anyone who blocks were killed, and even Buddha were destroyed. Anyone who supports drug control must be 'killed'.

But the saddest thing is that this has been a completely unequal struggle from the beginning. Unlike the Mexican military and police, who are all in danger, even if many drug lords are unlucky enough to be arrested, they will just go to another place for vacation in the end, because there is no death penalty in Mexico. Taking Topochco Prison as an example, it not only has multiple luxurious cells, but is also equipped with air conditioning, TVs, refrigerators, fish tanks and even saunas. In prison, they can access the Internet, keep pets, smoke marijuana, and even call special services, which will not hinder him from running drugs at all.

Because of this, Mexico today is almost synonymous with violent conflict and poverty. The economy is in decline, gangs are prevalent, and drugs are rampant. Even 30% of the territory is "controlled" by drug dealers. This land with an area of ​​about 2 million square kilometers and a population of 130 million has been almost completely destroyed and has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

Some people say that the drug dealers are extremely evil, and some say that the United States is obstructing it. These statements are all correct, but the essence of why Mexico has fallen into the current chaos is the result of the collective betrayal of the people by the elite class.

Mexico used to be not only the cultural center of the American continent and the birthplace of the Mayan civilization, but also had a mature industrial foundation and rich mineral resources. It had also entered the ranks of primary developed countries as early as 2000.

Mexico has had a long-standing poverty problem, but the turning point in its fate was undoubtedly around 1994. At that time, the United States used food capital as a diplomatic weapon and used large-scale planting and dumping overseas to achieve the purpose of controlling the political power of other countries. Stimulated by the government's high subsidies, corn, the staple food, has successfully exploded. In order to prevent a large amount of corn from poor sales, the Americans came up with a clever trick. So in 1994, Mexico was deceived by the United States into joining the so-called North American Free Trade Area(NAFTA). This day was a disastrous day for Mexican farmers, especially small farmers growing corn.

According to statistics, in 1989, the cost of producing a ton of corn in the United States was US$92, while in Mexico it was US$258. The average yield of corn in Mexico was 1.7 tons per hectare, while in the United States it was 6.9 tons per hectare.

In other words, once the United States carries out large-scale corn dumping into Mexico, Mexican farmers will quickly go bankrupt on a large scale.

But Mexican economists are not just doing it for a living. During the negotiations, Mexico clearly required that U.S. corn imports be protected for 15 years, with a 3% tax-free limit increase every year and a reduction in the tax rate for the excess. And there are quotas. Once the corn exported from the United States to Mexico exceeds a certain amount, a tariff of up to 215% can be levied. This restriction is theoretically enough to protect Mexican farmers.

Why theoretical? Because in reality, this protective tariff is not implemented at all!

Mexican politicians have ignored the characteristic of the export of American democracy, which is to always maintain the absolute authority of the individual and suppress the social stability of other countries.

Since the agreement came into effect, Mexico's annual corn imports have been exceeding the designated quota. In fact, the Mexican government eliminated the tariffs in just 30 months, and corn prices plunged 48% as expected.

The terms are like a piece of waste paper and the protection measures are in name only.

What is even more chilling is that on the surface, the Mexican government is forced to do nothing by not restricting U.S. corn. But in fact, the Mexican government did this deliberately.

Because for Mexico's domestic food processing groups and animal husbandry groups, cheap corn means lower costs, which can increase their profits and can also be used to suppress domestic corn prices. So they started using money to lobby the government to open the door.

Of course, if you think that the Mexican government will let American corn flow into Mexico unscrupulously and destroy its own foundation just because of a small profit, then you underestimate them too much..

In fact, there is a deeper reason behind the liberalization of restrictions, which is the land ownership reform implemented in Mexico in 1992.

Then-Mexican President Carlos Salinas declared that "land distribution, which in the past was a path to justice, today is unproductive and a source of poverty."

Watch this, it is clear what the Mexican government is thinking. With the dumping of U.S. corn, there are only two options left for Mexican farmers, either to grow more profitable agricultural products or to go bankrupt. The land is concentrated and handed over to large farms with more capital to operate and improve land utilization. .

According to economists, a considerable number of farmers can successfully complete the transformation and switch to growing more profitable fruits, vegetables, grains, etc., and the Mexican economy will be greatly improved as a result. Even if they lose their land, farmers can still go to cities to work. It provides a steady stream of labor for the U.S. manufacturing industry, and cheap U.S. corn can also lower food prices, which can be said to be a huge profit. The ideal is full, but the reality is very skinny. Contrary to economists' predictions, after joining the NAFTA, Mexico's corn production actually increased instead of falling!

This phenomenon is simply astonishing. When the price of corn dropped by as much as 48%, Mexican farmers actually increased their corn production instead of growing other products. It turns out that for the Mexicans, they have experience in growing corn, have production tools, and the land and climate are more suitable. They have no conditions and dare not grow other more profitable products. After all, once there is any fluctuation in the climate, the outcome can only be complete bankruptcy.

Therefore, Mexican farmers silently withstood the price shock of corn, and invariably chose to make up for their losses by working hard to increase production.

As expected, they have become even poorer. It can even be said that they are hovering on the edge of life and death. Even survival has become a problem. At this time, the drug cartel stepped forward. At that time, if the harvest was successful, the income from planting one hectare of poppy and cannabis was 400,000 pesos, while the income from one hectare of corn was only 12,000 pesos.

The outrageous thing is that unlike other crops that require risks, the drug cartel guarantees harvests regardless of drought or flood. As long as you plant, they will pay you a daily salary of 300 pesos and take care of the food. The daily wage for corn farmers is only 54 pesos.

The result can be imagined. Almost instantly, drug dealer groups transformed into an important source of income for the poor at the bottom. Economic interests, or more accurately, survival pressure, have led farmers to support drug dealer groups. They not only grow cannabis for them, but also spontaneously provide intelligence and supplies. A large number of farmers have become their most solid backing.

In the end, the Mexican government has to fight not only drug cartel groups, but also farmers who have been hit by the drop in corn prices to the edge of life and death, and urban poor who have been devoured by rising food prices. Therefore, even though dozens of presidential candidates who support anti-drugs have been assassinated one after another, and nearly 300,000 people have died as a result, Mexico's drug deal control have still achieved little results. Because what Mexico cannot get rid of is not the drug dealers, but the two extremely poor classes in Mexico, and it is also the division of society.

What's more, the United States on the other side is not idle either. It monopolizes the Mexican corn market, and then starts to raise prices for sales.

A multinational agricultural company from the United States came to Mexico. They told desperate farmers that only by using our seeds can you compete with American corn. The desperate farmers tried using their seeds, and sure enough, the yield increased significantly. In just two years later, the price of seeds also suddenly increased across the board, and Mexican farmers once again fell into the desperate situation of losing money if planted, and losing money if they didn't.

Throughout history, the United States has ravaged Mexico in all aspects.

A U.S.-Mexico war in 1848 allowed the United States to successfully seize 2.3 million square kilometers of Mexican land, becoming a transatlantic and Pacific superpower. In 1985, the United States' violent interest rate hikes led to a massive debt explosion in Latin America. Led by Mexico, dozens of countries were forced to give up part of their monetary sovereignty and let the United States harvest it. The United States purchased a large amount of Mexico's railway, aviation, steel and other industries. Since then, Mexico has been in a state of decline, and all of Mexico has begun to work for Americans.

While this is far from enough. The signing of the NAFTA has "forced" honest Mexican farmers to abandon their hoes and learn to make drugs. As a major gun country, eleven American companies have established long-term and stable supply relationships with drug dealers, unscrupulously encouraging drug dealers and the government to engage in frequent conflicts again and again.

Squeeze out the skin and squeeze out the flesh.

In 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada, president of Coca-Cola Central America, became president of Mexico. The president donated all the best water sources in Mexico to Coca-Cola Company. As a result, Mexicans could not afford pure water at all and could only drink Coca-Cola to quench thirst. The annual per capita consumption of Coke in Mexico is as high as 163 liters. The number of people who die due to Coke every year even far exceeds the number of people who die due to drugs and gang fights.

At this time, the Mexicans are already penniless, but do you think they have no use value?

American capitalists don’t think so. After squeeze out the flesh, there is still blood.

Four giants in the field of blood collection in the United States have shown great mercy and built blood donation stations from Mexico to the United States. Impoverished Mexicans can donate blood across the U.S. border in exchange for a small amount of change. In order to let Mexicans earn more, the "kind" Americans have generously lifted all restrictions. Even if Mexicans donate hundreds of times a year and die, it doesn't matter.

In this way, Mexico, which had a difficult fate and was ravaged by the United States in various way, has come to where it is today. The Mexico we hear today is contradictory and diverse. The Mexican government has achieved both low grain prices that harm farmers and high prices either. The economy is developed but the per capita income is extremely low. All of this is the trampling of capital, the betrayal of the elite class, and the tragedy of human nature.

Perhaps as former Mexican President Porfirio Díaz said, "Poor Mexico. So far from God and so close to the United States."