Viral Video of Man Eating a Human Heart Is Part of Mexican Cartel's Horrifying 'Cannibal Schools'
A new video circulating on the internet is shedding light on some of the horrific practices in which Mexican cartels are engaging.
According to the Daily Beast, the video showed a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) crouching over the dead body of a man from a rival cartel.
WARNING: The following descriptions contain graphic details which some may find disturbing.
The CJNG member proceeded to rip out large pieces of the deceased man’s heart and eat them, the Beast reported. At one point, he pretended to offer the dead man a bite of his own heart.
The video first went viral last month. Security analyst Dr. Robert J. Bunker, who studies Mexico’s cartels, told the Beast that CJNG uploaded it with the intent of sending a message to its rivals.
Currently, the CJNG is in a battle with the Sinaloa Cartel headed by Mayo Zambada. Both want to control the Mexican state of Zacatecas.
“Given its warning to other Mayo Zambada gunmen, the video has clearly been produced for [psychological operations] purposes by the CJNG unit involved in the incident who then uploaded it to social media,” Bunker said.
Cannibalistic behavior has been increasing among cartel members in Mexico in recent months. Dutch anthropologist and former Mexican war correspondent Teun Voeten told the Beast that this phenomenon was similar to one that caused beheadings to become normalized among Mexican criminals.
Voeten said beheadings were very rare in Mexico before 2006, but “a sort of Olympics of cruelty and sadism” between cartels led to a precipitous rise.
“After the first incidents, other crime groups started to commit beheadings as well and a vicious circle of imitation and escalation of extreme violence came into being,” Voeten said. “Now there are dozens of beheadings a year in Mexico.”
CJNG has taken cannibalism to a higher level than even other cartels, the Beast reported. It is now a requirement for recruits at its training camps, known as “terror schools” or “cannibal schools” in Mexico.
One member of the CJNG spoke to the Beast anonymously for his protection, and he said he witnessed rampant cannibalism at one of the training camps.
“First they teach them how to cut people,” the source said. “They start by learning how to sever the extremities.”
The Beast reported this practice has two main goals. First, the cartel can force recruits to eat the severed fingers and toes before moving on to larger organs.
Second, it teaches them the skill of cutting extremities without killing the victim. The CJNG often uses this as a torture method to pry information out of its victims.
Once the recruit passes this test, they are then taught to cut open entire bodies, the source said. At that point, they are forced to choose a large organ to eat in front of the boss.
“You have to do it without reacting or vomiting or you are beaten,” the source said. “If you didn’t want to [eat human flesh] they wouldn’t let you leave, they had you there.”
These vicious cartels are some of the people who stand to profit off of the immigration crisis at the United States’ southern border.
According to the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal, Mexican cartel members are helping to smuggle migrants across the border. For that service, migrants pay them hefty fees.
While retired Texas public safety captain Jaeson Jones said it is unclear how much money the cartels are making from the smuggling business, he was certain “the profits they are making today are like nothing we have seen prior. This is a major revenue stream.”
Even if the cartel members have no interest in entering the U.S. themselves, they are still profiting immensely from the weak border under the Biden administration.
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