Federal authorities have rejected suggestions that 42 presumed drug cartel affiliates who died in a police operation at a ranch near Tanhuato, Michoacan were victims of a massacre.
The government says that a group of armed criminals, the majority of whom were from Jalisco, fired on a security convoy at dawn on Friday, 22 May.
“A pursuit began that led to the ranch,” National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido said. “The rest of the criminals inside the ranch started to attack the federal forces with intensity.” A lone federal police officer died in the operation.
The lopsided death toll and photos of the aftermath have led social media users to question whether the presumed criminals were in fact massacred after surrendering.
In one photo, a dead man lies in the grass with a badly broken arm and missing front teeth. In another, a man lies face down wearing no shoes and only his underwear, as if he had been dragged from his bed.
Some photos suggest the scene may have been manipulated. One of the presumed criminals is next to an automatic rifle but is not wearing the shoulder strap. Another is empty-handed but is next to a magazine belt in a second photo.
According to Animal Politico, witnesses said that most shots were fired from a federal police helicopter.
Enrique Galindo, head of Mexico’s federal police rejected suggestions of a massacre. “There was not one single execution, I can say that categorically.”
Rubido, meanwhile, said that all of the dead had fired shots.
“Of the 42 presumed criminals that died, every one tested positive for sodium nitrate,” Rubido said, suggesting that gunshot residue incriminated the dead.
Yet security analyst Alejandro Hope identified two problems with the government’s version of events.
“First, the photos that appear to show some bodies were moved. Second, they recovered fewer weapons than there were victims,” Hope said. “It’s very strange.”
Authorities say the presumed criminals were members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the organization responsible for downing a military helicopter and organizing a wave of coordinated road blockades on May 1. Officials have yet to release the names of the 42 dead, although most were reportedly from Jalisco, with at least 28 originating from Ocotlan, a town of 90,000 inhabitants on the north shore of Lake Chapala.
On Monday, May 25, funerals for the deceased were held throughout the town. Ocotlan has made headlines for drug violence twice in the past few months. On March 19, five members of Mexico’s new militarized police, or gendarmerie, were killed and eight wounded when they were ambushed by members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Shortly after the news broke of shooting in Tanhuato, the National Human Rights Commission sent a team to investigate the scene. Concerns of a possible massacre stem partly from the recent history of extrajudicial killings carried out by state forces. In the past year, Mexico has seen at least three cases of unarmed people being murdered by security forces: the army massacre in Tlatlaya, Mexico State, the Ayotzinapa student killings in Iguala, Guerrero, and the execution of civilians in Apatzingan, Michoacan.
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In Aztec folklore, Chaneques are tiny, forest-dwelling fairies that guard nature and frighten away intruders. In the Nahuatl language their name means the “ones that inhabit dangerous places.” Chaneques are responsible for punishing people who show insufficient respect for the wildlife of the forest. The sprites are capable of causing such terror that people lose their tonalli, (the spirit associated with the day of their birth, roughly equivalent to a soul). Following the theft of their tonalli, victims are required to undergo a magical ritual to avoid certain death. Stories about Chaneques are particularly prevalent in Southern Mexico. While potentially very dangerous, the creatures have a more positive aspect, representing the attitudes of indigenous communities, who use stories of the little creatures to safeguard natural resources and protect the environment.
worshipped by nearby indigenous communities.
al normally takes on an animal form for the night in order to disguise themselves or perform a feat impossible to humans. A person’s birth date often determines whether they are born with this power.
the end of its tail is a monkey or human-like hand which it uses to drag its prey into the water. The creature lives in the watery depths of caves and attracts its prey by wailing like an abandoned baby. Concerned humans follow the cry, fall into the hands of the ahuizotl and are dragged down into the water. When the body is retrieved it appears as before, except the ahuizotl has removed the eyes, teeth and nails.
900 mayors. It appears to be part of a flagrant “vote buying” campaign that has astonished international observers, as well as many Mexicans, 90,000 of whom have signed an 
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The Mexican Labyrinth 