Mexico: Police recover 10 dead bodies from an abandoned car parked under Christmas tree

An SUV with ten dead bodies inside was recovered by Mexican authorities from outside the office of a Mexican state governor in a public square. The remains were kept into a Mazda SUV that was abandoned beside a Christmas tree in Zacatecas' main square before daybreak.

In a video shot at the plaza, state governor David Monreal stated the car contained dead with obvious signs of beating and bruises.

"They came to leave them here in front of the palace," he explained, referring to his offices in the city's Plaza de Armas, popularly known as Zacatecas.

According to the federal public safety department, a man drove the truck into the plaza, got out, and walked into an alley.

Monreal stated that security has been a serious issue in Zacatecas and that he intends to reduce violence.

"We shall reclaim our tranquility one step at a time." "We were given a cursed heritage," he explained.

Due to territorial disputes between competing gangs, Zacatecas has become one of the most violent places in the country. According to official data, the state had 1,050 homicides in 2021, almost 260 more than in 2020.

The state is a major crossroads for drugs heading north to the US border, particularly the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Zacatecas, once dominated by the defunct Zetas cartel, is now contested by a bewildering number of organisations. The Sinaloa, Jalisco, Gulf, and North-east cartels, as well as remnants of the Zetas known as "Talibans," are all vying for territory.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has failed to cut homicides in Mexico considerably. In the first 11 months of 2021, there were 31,615 homicides, down 3.6 percent from 32,814 in 2020.