2011 San Fernando massacre

Not to be confused with the 2010 San Fernando massacre, the mass murder of 72 non-Mexican nationals, or the 1868 San Fernando massacre, which took place in Paraguay.

2011 San Fernando massacre
Part of the Mexican Drug War
2011 San Fernando massacre is located in Tamaulipas
2011 San Fernando massacre
2011 San Fernando massacre (Tamaulipas)
2011 San Fernando massacre is located in Mexico
2011 San Fernando massacre
2011 San Fernando massacre (Mexico)
LocationSan Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Coordinates24°50′N 98°09′W / 24.833°N 98.150°W / 24.833; -98.150
Date24–29 March 2011
TargetCivilians and Gulf Cartel hitmen
Attack type
Mass murder, kidnapping
Deaths193
PerpetratorLos Zetas

The 2011 San Fernando massacre, also known as the second massacre of San Fernando,[1] was the mass murder of 193 people by Los Zetas drug cartel at La Joya ranch in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, in March 2011.[2] Authorities investigating the massacre reported numerous hijackings of passenger buses on Mexican Federal Highway 101 in San Fernando, and the kidnapped victims were later killed and buried in 47 clandestine mass graves.[2] The investigations began immediately after several suitcases and other baggage went unclaimed in Reynosa and Matamoros, Tamaulipas.[3] On 6 April 2011, Mexican authorities exhumed 59 corpses from eight mass graves.[4] By 7 June 2011, after a series of multiple excavations, a total of 193 bodies were exhumed from mass graves in San Fernando.[5]

Reports mentioned that female kidnapping victims were raped and able-bodied male kidnapping victims were forced to fight to the death with other hostages, where they were given knives, hammers, machetes and clubs to find recruits who were willing to kill for their lives.[6] In the blood sport, the survivor was recruited as a hitman for Los Zetas; those who did not survive were buried in a clandestine gravesite.[7] After the massacre, thousands of citizens from San Fernando fled to other parts of Mexico and to the US.[8] The Mexican government responded by sending 650 soldiers to San Fernando and establishing a military base in the municipality.[9] The troops took over the duties of the police force in the city and worked on social programs.[10] In addition, a total of 82 Zeta members were arrested by 23 August 2011.[11] In 2012 tranquility slowly returned to the city, along with the inhabitants who fled because of the violence.[12]

Mexican authorities are not certain why Los Zetas decided to abduct people from buses, and then torture, murder and bury them. They speculate that the Zetas may have forcibly recruited the passengers as foot soldiers for the organization, intending to hold them for ransom or extort them before they crossed into the US.[13] Some killers, however, confessed that they abducted and killed the passengers because they feared their rivals, the Gulf Cartel, were getting reinforcements from other states.[14] One of the leaders confessed that Heriberto Lazcano, the supreme leader of Los Zetas, had ordered the investigation of all buses coming in through San Fernando; those "who had nothing to do with it were freed. But those that did, they were killed."[14] In addition, the killers claimed to have investigated passengers' cellphones and text messages to determine if they were involved with the Gulf Cartel or not, and that they were particularly worried about buses coming in from the states of Durango and Michoacán, two strongholds of the rival La Familia and the Sinaloa Cartels.[14]

  1. ^ "Hallan ocho fosas con 59 cuerpos en Tamaulipas". El Universal (in Spanish). 7 April 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Aumenta a 193 los muertos por matanza en San Fernando, Tamaulipas: PGR". Milenio (in Spanish). 7 June 2011. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  3. ^ "México: Maletas abandonadas, pista para esclarecer asesinatos en Tamaulipas". Terra Networks (in Spanish). 19 April 2011. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  4. ^ Chapa, Sergio (6 April 2011). "59 bodies found in eight mass graves near San Fernando". KGBT-TV. Archived from the original on 12 April 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  5. ^ Chapa, Sergio (7 June 2011). "San Fernando body count climbs to 193". KGBT-TV. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  6. ^ "Zetas recrean peleas del Coliseo Romano con secuestrados: Houston Chronicle". Animal Politico (in Spanish). 13 June 2011. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  7. ^ "Los narcos mexicanos obligan a los secuestrados a pelear como gladiadores". ABC Internacional (in Spanish). 14 June 2011. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  8. ^ "SAN FERNANDO: Huyen seis mil por narcoviolencia". El Nuevo Heraldo (in Spanish). 10 November 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Confirma Egidio Torre Cantú que ya opera otro cuartel militar en el estado". La Jornada (in Spanish). 28 February 2012. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  10. ^ "San Fernando, seguro al 100%". El Universal (in Spanish). 3 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  11. ^ "Ya son 82 detenidos por fosas de San Fernando, Tamaulipas; son presuntos Zetas". Animal Politico (in Spanish). 23 August 2011. Archived from the original on 8 May 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  12. ^ "Tamaulipas huele a miedo, dan respiro a San Fernando". Excélsior (in Spanish). 27 February 2012. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference nytimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ a b c Dudley, Steven (27 June 2011). "Zeta Testimony Solves Mystery of Mexico Bus Massacres". InSight Crime. Archived from the original on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2012.