2010: Mass grave with 72 migrants found in Tamaulipas. Most shot. Some beaten to death. Since then the graves have only gotten bigger. The cartels finance themselves through cocaine sales - including in Berlin.
The scale of violence
- •More deaths than the Iraq War
- •53 dead per day. Every day. For 18 years.
- •110,000 disappeared. Officially. Nobody knows the real number.
Who dies?
- Journalists - 15 murdered in 2022 in Mexico alone. Most cases unsolved.
- Mayors - 35 candidates shot before the 2021 elections. Don't cooperate, you die.
- Activists - Marisela Escobedo searched for her daughter's killer. Shot in front of the government palace.
- Everyone else - A family on the wrong bus. A student in the wrong city. A child in front of the wrong house.
The graves
In Jalisco mothers dig themselves. Authorities don't search anymore. With shovels and metal rods they pierce the earth. The smell reveals the spots. 2,000 bones in one year. In one province.
Colombia
60 years of civil war. 260,000 dead. Four million displaced. FARC, AUC, cartels - all sold cocaine. The 2016 peace didn't hold. New groups, old routes, same product.
In Culiacán families search for the disappeared. Some for years. 110,000 people officially missing. Most cases: unsolved. The searchers often find only bones.
How cartels rule
In Michoacán they decide who grows avocados. In Guerrero, who uses the road. In Tamaulipas, who lives.
- Protection money from every business. Pay or burn.
- Kidnapping as income source. 1,500 euros per day ransom.
- Bodies on bridges as messages to competitors.
- Videos of torture on the internet. For deterrence.
Berlin is far away. But the money finds its way back.