A notorious drug cartel is compelling fresh members to partake in consuming human flesh and carrying out decapitations in its infamous “terror schools.”
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has rapidly expanded its operations across Mexico, primarily in the western regions of the country. Known for its brutal acts of violence to instill fear in its adversaries, the cartel has engaged in egregious actions such as downing an army helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade, executing hundreds of state officials, and publicly displaying the bodies of victims on bridges to intimidate rivals. CJNG recruits undergo training at secretive rural locations where they are taught combat techniques and how to handle firearms.
During a span of three to four months, new members are indoctrinated into becoming cannibals. A former recruit, who chose to remain anonymous, disclosed to DailyBeast.com: “I’ve been there and there was a lot of [cannibalism]. They recruit them and then they start working on them.” Initially, CJNG members are trained in severing victims’ fingers and toes, a preferred method of torture by the cartel.
According to the insider, recruits are then compelled to select a body part to consume in front of their superiors. Refusal or any signs of aversion result in punishment. Once loyalty is demonstrated, members progress to learning how to dismember entire bodies. One individual, known only as Francisco, recounted being deceived into joining a CJNG camp in the mountains of Guadalajara under false pretenses of a security guard job. He was coerced into amputating a man’s hand and consuming a portion of the corpse, with no choice but to comply under threat.
Another survivor from a training camp revealed that the most timid recruit in his group was instructed to behead a rival and crush the victim’s skull with a stone. In a particularly gruesome incident, a recruit who vomited part of a body was forced by the instructor to consume it after retrieving it from the ground.
In a disturbing incident from the past year, video footage surfaced showing CJNG members extracting the hearts of rival gang members and eating them in a macabre display of taunting their deceased enemies. These extreme measures are not only utilized to desensitize new members but also to instill fear among local communities and solidify the cartel’s dominance in the drug trade.
During the pandemic, three individuals, including a pregnant woman, were found in critical condition with missing hands after being accused of theft by CJNG. Their mutilated bodies were discovered in a truck in Guanajuato, accompanied by a chilling message warning against thievery and disrespect towards hardworking individuals. To cover their tracks, the cartel resorts to dissolving victims in acid baths as a means of disposal.
In a separate incident, Mexican rapper Christian Palma Gutiérrez confessed to disposing of three missing film students’ bodies by dissolving them in acid. Mistaken for members of a rival gang, the students were kidnapped and tortured by CJNG, with Gutiérrez admitting to being paid by the cartel for his role in the heinous act.