A bloody feud between rival drug gangs that 17 people dead in Mexico– with chilling videos splashed across social media showing the horrifying carnage– has resulted in a truce.
After a bloody conflict between drug gangs Los Tlacos and their rival Las Familia Michoacana made international headlines earlier this month, a priest helped to broker a seize fire between the warring gangs on Feb. 19, according to media reports.
The plan calls for no aggression and for each criminal group to respect the territory of others.
Members of drug gang ‘Los Tlacos’ recorded themselves dragging around naked and partially naked bodies of dead La Familia Michoacana members earlier this month.
Most of the footage, reviewed by DailyMail.com, was too graphic to be published.
In one disturbing video, camouflage-clad men could be seen tossing the bodies of their male victims into a pile while cursing at them.
One gangster kicked the lifeless remains, with the corpses later set on fire and shot at with rifles.
Members of the drug gang ‘Los Tlacos’ send a chilling message to their enemies in an online video after bloodshed in Guerrero, Mexico earlier this week
Los Tlacos also recorded themselves piling the bodies of their rivals onto of each other and burning them. Most of the footage was too graphic to share
Armed members of the La Familia Michoacana in a photo shared on social media
Mexican authorities announced they had recovered five charred bodies near the town of Las Tunas on Tuesday.
In one video, a man be heard yelling ‘send me more (bodies),’ as he fires a rifle at the burning pile and then at the ground.
Others shout: ‘So they don’t come back to life!’
In another clip, members of Los Tlacos issued an warning to their enemies.
‘You kill women and innocents; we’re coming to get you, you sons of a b–ch.’ one gangster said in a video shared on X, formerly Twitter.
‘And you, politicians, stop supporting this trash,’ he added.
The man, talking over a loud speaker, declared that his group will protect the people living in the mountain range.
The group of 50 or some men then cheered as they lifted their rifles at the end of the video.
State authorities are now working to identify the dead and vowed to bring their killers to justice.
An alleged gang member of Los Tlacos points his gun at one of the 20 members of La Bandera in 2021
The Mexican drug gang Los Tlacos has carried out very public revenge on its enemies, dumping four bodies of rival gangster in the truck of a car in front of a campaign office in 2021
The incident is the just latest example of rampant drug-related violence in the State of Guerrero.
Los Tlacos has previously released disturbing video footage of revenge on their rivals.
In September 2021, gang henchmen accused the gang ‘La Bandera’ of ‘extorting and killing innocent people’ before forcing them to kneel and interrogating them at gunpoint in the middle of a forest in the state of Guerrero.
The men were filmed lined up before they were executed, with at least at least four of the victims’ bodies left in the trunk of a car that was left abandoned in front of the campaign office of Iguala mayor David Gama Pérez.
Known as Tierra Caliente or the ‘Hot Lands,’ the region has been controlled by some 40 cartels and drug gangs who are fighting for control of marijuana and heroin production in that area, according to Insightcrime.org.
San Miguel Totolapan in Guerrero State is part of the zone known as the “Hot Lands.’ The region has been embroiled in drug violence for years, forcing many residents to flee or take measures to protect themselves
Drug violence has become the norm in the state of Guerrero, leading many residents, including children, to arm themselves
Members of the National Guard (GN) of Mexico tour the community of Ayahualtempa, in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico, Jan. 31
Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG) has a major presence in the area while local crime groups Guerreros Unidos, Viagras, Rojos, Tlacos, Ardillos, Familia Michoacana, and Tequileros are also fighting for their piece of the pie.
The Hot Lands are considered a prize, not only for its drug production, but also for the Port of Acapulco – which is used to import cocaine shipments sent from South America.
About 30,000 Mexicans are killed in crime-related deaths each year, according to Global Conflict Tracker.
Recently, four Catholic bishops in the area met with cartel leaders to try and negotiate a plan for peace in the region.
The Bishop of Guerrero Jose de Jesus Gonzalez announced on Ash Wednesday that talks to stop the drug violence in Guerrero failed. Catholic leaders in Mexico met with cartels in an effort to ask them to end the violence, but an agreement could not be reached
The bishop of Guerrero posed with dancers and members of the community as they celebrated his arrival to his post in April 2022
‘Undoubtedly, we have to talk to certain people, above all when it comes to people’s safety, but that doesn’t mean we agree with it,’ said one priest, who asked for his name to be withheld for his own safety.
Local families are pleading for church leaders to help obtain information on missing loved ones from the cartel.
The drug war has forced thousands of mostly rural people caught in the crossfire to either leave the area for larger Mexican cities or head north to the US.
Nearly 160,000 Mexicans illegally crossed into the US in 2023, four times as many as in the previous year, the New York Times reported.