CIDE Study Finds Narco ’Messages of Justice’ Reflect Weakness of State Institutions Arturo Angel - InSight Crime
go to original May 1, 2017

Banner left at the site of a cartel killing - translated to English, it reads, in part, "This is what happens to thieves, kidnappers and traitors." (Anonymous photographer via Paul Eiss

Leaving narco messages in instances when a victim is killed in a bloodthirsty manner is a strategy employed by criminal groups to gain "respect" and "build a reputation among their rivals and society as a whole," according to a study by the Center for Research and Economic Development (Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Económico - CIDE) that analyzed more than 2,000 such messages.

The study entitled "Evolution of Organized Crime in Mexico through Narco Messages" classified 2,680 messages found between 2007 and 2011 in 25 of the country's 32 states. The study identified the main contents, geographic location, and type of homicide that the messages were associated with, among other details.

The study notes that while the main motive in 44 percent of the messages analyzed was to send a threatening or hateful message to rival groups, the motive in 22 percent of the messages, identified as "messages of justice," was to single out the murdered person as an alleged offender.

The third primary motive for killings identified by investigators in the narco messages was vendettas against alleged informants of rival groups. At least 135 of these cases were detected.

Ten percent of the narco messages also expressed anti-government sentiments. This proportion is similar to the number of messages where the primary motive is related to a specific territorial dispute.

...According to the study, the increasingly visible intention to highlight and vindicate criminal acts may simply be "in fashion," but there is also a real interest on the part of these groups in making themselves visible to society, authorities, and rival groups.

The appearance of messages left at a crime scene or added afterwards is also a phenomenon that began in specific sites before spreading considerably.

Read the rest at InSight Crime | Spanish original

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