"So that they learn repect"

Mexico's limited success in the drug war is becoming its own worst enemy in the struggle for hearts and minds. This past weekend, an elite Mexican navy team killed one of the nation's most powerful cartel leaders in a gun battle that lasted over 90 minutes outside of Cuernavaca. The images of a lifeless Arturo Beltran Leyva that appeared in the country's newspapers echoed the public relations objectives of the narcos themselves when leaving behind victims. Namely, to instill fear and demonstrate unchecked power.

The Mexican political commentator, Jorge Chabat, wrote in El Universal that, "The humiliated corpse, with its pants lowered, covered with bloody bills in one photo and religious objects in another, showed the typical modus operandi of narco-traffickers." He continued, "The only thing missing was a sign saying 'so that you learn to respect' to confirm the unmistakable stamp of an act of narco revenge."

For his part, the Interior Minister, Fernando Gomez-Mont said that, "The Mexican government fulfills its duty to halt organized-crime activity, but it does not get into personal humiliation." An investigation has been opened to determine who "dressed up" the corpse-the military or local coroner specialists. If in fact members of the military are increasingly adopting such narco tactics it seems hardly appropriate that they investigate themselves, afterall we know how well narcos respect the rule of law.