Like the scenes in a drug TV series, exotic animals have long been part of the Mexican criminal underworld. Photographs from Tuesday’s shooting at Texcaltitlan with police killing 11 drug gang members show a small monkey – dressed in a tiny camouflage jacket and a tiny bulletproof vest – lying on the body of a dead gunman apparently of. Authorities in the Mexican state have confirmed the authenticity of the photos and said it was unclear whether the monkey – who was also wearing a diaper – died in the hail from the bullets that killed its owner. Federal forces are depicted in a scene after an exchange of gunfire that left three security forces injured and at least 10 suspected criminals killed in Texcaltitlan, Mexico, June 14, 2022. STRINGER / REUTERS “A primate was killed at the scene, which allegedly belonged to a criminal who was also killed at the scene,” prosecutors said in a statement, adding that an autopsy would be performed on the animal by a veterinarian specializing in the species. suspects who survived the exchange of gunfire. Then on Wednesday, the Attorney General for Environmental Protection said he had seized a tiger in Tecuala, in the Pacific Nayarit state near the border with Sinaloa, where the cartel of the same name is located. The office said it acted “after receiving reports of a Bengal tiger roaming the streets of Tecuala” and found that the animal was being held there illegally. These reports were based on a video posted on social media earlier this week, showing a young woman screaming as she met a tiger on the street in a residential neighborhood. “Keep quiet, he can approach,” a woman is heard saying in the video. A Bengal Tiger roams the city and is then transported home without any resistance. This happened in Tecuala, Mexico. pic.twitter.com/TtDwbHAjRT – Amazing posts (@AmazingPosts_) June 15, 2022 Authorities said the tiger’s nails and fangs had been removed and a man was later seen in the video throwing a rope over the tiger’s neck and leading it away. Perhaps the most tragic story came from the western state of Michoacan, which has long been dominated by the Carteles Unidos gang and the Jalisco cartel, which the Department of Justice considers to be “one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world.” . On Sunday, authorities confirmed that a man had been seriously injured by a tiger in Periban, Michoacan, a town in the state’s avocado-growing area where gangs have long extorted protection payments from the lucrative avocado trade. In a video posted on social media, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, the man appears to be calling the tiger to the side of a fenced enclosure. “Come on, come on,” the man is heard begging. The man is standing outside the enclosure, apparently feeding the tiger with one hand, while stretching his other hand through the fence with the chain link to caress the animal’s neck. The man then screams in pain after the tiger drove fast and bit his outstretched hand and refuses to let go. Eventually the tiger killed both of the man’s hands. Michoac νόn state law enforcement confirmed that the man was taken to a hospital, where he died a few days later from his injuries. Mexican law allows individuals to keep exotic animals if they register them under strictly supervised conditions. However, security analyst David Saucedo said criminals are sometimes content to obtain such permits. Saucedo said drug traffickers often hold exotic animals as symbols of position and power, imitating Colombian drug lords of the 1980s and 1990s, such as Pablo Escobar. “Mexican drug dealers have copied from the Medellin cartel the custom of acquiring exotic animals and setting up private zoos,” Saucedo said. “According to the code of the drug trafficking aristocracy, the existence of a private zoo was a prerequisite for being part of the circle of big drug traffickers.” Sometimes animals can inadvertently attract unwanted attention. The infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the beloved monkey Botas, was the one who led the police to the baron of the drug lord in October, according to a report in the Mexican media. In some cases, the animals had a more awful use. “Some drug cartels, such as Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano, have acquired exotic animals to torture or kill their victims,” Saucedo said. “Several of his enemies were devoured by the tigers or crocodiles that the Zeta kept in their herds or cages.” Lazcano himself was killed in an exchange of fire with Mexican military personnel in 2012. Mexico has recorded more than 340,000 murders and tens of thousands of disappearances since the start of a controversial military offensive against organized crime in 2006. Human rights experts and advocates say the militarization of the fight against organized crime has exacerbated the problem of violence in Mexico. Since taking office in late 2018, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has repeatedly called on the security services to rely more on information than on violence to fight crime. In March, Lopez Obrador accused popular TV shows of being fascinated by the violent drug trade. He criticized TV series on platforms such as Netflix, saying they presented a rosy version of the drug traffickers’ way of life.
