Mexico City - The bodies of six men were
found hanging from three different bridges near the Mexican
tourist resort of Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula on
Wednesday, local authorities said.
The authorities did not give details on what happened to the
men, but drug gangs often hang the bodies of their murdered
victims in public to intimidate rivals. Drug gang violence is
set to make 2017 Mexico's deadliest year in modern history.
Two bodies were found on a bridge in Las Veredas, near Los
Cabos International Airport, and two on a different bridge on
the highway between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, local
prosecutors said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the prosecutors said two further
bodies were found on a third bridge near the airport.
An official from the prosecutor's office, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said the bodies of the men had been hung
from the bridges.
Violent crime has spiked in Baja California, particularly
around the once peaceful resort of Los Cabos visited by million
of foreign tourists every year. Los Cabos police chief Juan
Manuel Mayorga was shot dead last week.
Mexico is on track for its most violent year since records
began, with the rise of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, now
one of the country's most powerful, and disputes between other
criminal groups fueling murder rates.
On Tuesday, authorities in the northern state of Chihuahua
said 12 people were killed in clashes between armed groups.
The governor of the state of Baja California Sur, Carlos
Mendoza Davis, said that authorities were investigating the
incidents near Los Cabos.
"I condemn these acts and any expression of violence. Today
more than ever in #BCS we should be united," he said via
Twitter, using the hashtag for the state's initials.
Homicides have more than doubled in Baja California Sur this
year, with 409 people killed through October, from 192 in all of
2016. In June authorities said they had found a mass grave with
the bodies of 11 men and three women near Los Cabos.
More than 4.4 million passengers, mostly international, have
passed through Los Cabos Airport so far this year, according to
operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico.