Reply #17: Revenge for this? "Staged photos of slain drug lord stir controversy" [View All]

[Flaneur]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-mexico-druglord22-2009dec22,0,5243016.story

Images of Arturo Beltran Leyva's corpse covered with blood-stained peso notes and jewelry raise concerns that law enforcement is adopting the tactics of hit men. An inquiry is underway.

A wall in the Cuernavaca high-rise shows bullet holes from the naval commando raid that killed Mexican cartel chief Arturo Beltran Leyva. (Antonio Sierra / Associated Press / December 17, 2009)


By Ken Ellingwood

December 22, 2009
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Reporting from Mexico City - The dead drug lord lay on his back, blood-soaked jeans yanked down to the knees. Mexican peso notes carpeted his bullet-torn body, and U.S. $100 bills formed neat rows next to his bared belly.

The gory photograph of Arturo Beltran Leyva, one of Mexico's most wanted kingpins, was among those widely published here during the last few days following his death in a shootout Wednesday with Mexican marines in Cuernavaca, capital of the central state of Morelos.

Even in a country where pictures of gruesome crime scenes routinely show up on the front pages of newspapers, the Beltran Leyva images have stirred controversy over who staged the tableau and whether Mexican authorities did so to send a taunting message to the rest of his powerful drug trafficking gang.

Several commentators said the photos, some of which showed religious jewelry laid across Beltran Leyva's stomach, were evidence that the government had adopted the macabre public-relations methods used by hit men. Gang members often line their victims' bodies along the roadside or hang them from bridges, leaving menacing, handwritten messages to scare foes.