6 Mutilated Bodies In Plastic Bags Found In Car In Mexico

Six mutilated bodies were found Thursday in a vehicle in southern Mexico, authorities said, as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador accused popular television shows of glamorizing the violent drug trade.

The remains were found in plastic bags inside a car in Chilapa in the state of Guerrero, prosecutors said, without confirming reports that the severed heads were placed on the roof.

Discoveries of mutilated bodies dumped in public or hung from bridges have increased in Mexico in recent years as drug cartels seek to intimidate their rivals.

In January, 10 bodies were found in a sports utility vehicle abandoned in front of the governor's palace in the historic center of the northern city of Zacatecas.

In June 2021, two heads and other human remains were left at polling stations in the border city of Tijuana on election day.

Across the country, more than 340,000 people have been killed in a wave of bloodshed since the government deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006.

On Thursday, Lopez Obrador hit out at television series on platforms such as Netflix, saying they presented a rose-colored version of the lifestyles of drug traffickers.

The shows feature "gangs of drug traffickers, with actors, men, beautiful women, property, the latest cars, jewelry, designer clothes, power," he told reporters.

But they ignore "the destruction in particular of young people. And we are talking about thousands of deaths. In the United States, it's a serious problem," he added, referring to victims of drug overdoses.

Lopez Obrador took office in 2018 championing a "hugs not bullets" strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots by fighting poverty and inequality with social programs, rather than with the army.

He has asked the United States to invest in regional economic development instead of sending helicopter gunships and other weapons to take on drug traffickers.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)