In Mexico, an average of twelve dead bodies are found daily, often displaying signs of torture, dismemberment, burning or being buried in hidden graves, a nonprofit Causa en Común (Common Cause) revealed Thursday.
First responders also find bodies of mass shooting victims as well as women and children who have been strangled, stabbed or beaten to death on a daily basis, the nonprofit said, according to the Border Report.
This extreme violence is often linked to drug cartel turf wars, with no Mexican state being free from such crimes.
Causa en Común released its semi-annual report Thursday on extreme violence. The report recorded 2,185 "atrocities" involving 4,959 victims from Jan. 1 to June 30 this year. However, researchers said, authorities often under report crimes and the society was starting to accept it as normal.
An investigator with Causa en Común Fernando Escobar Ayala said the report was shared not to scare people but to highlight the ongoing violent crime in Mexico.
"We know that official crime figures are deficient, manipulated. Also, as a society we have lost interest, to a degree, to face this atrocious reality of violence and insecurity in our country," Ayala said, the Border Report mentioned.
The report lists 20 types of crimes as atrocities. Torture killings were most common, with 507 cases, followed by dismembered bodies (290) and mass shootings (187), where at least three people were killed in one event.
There were also 111 hidden graves found with one or more bodies. Other types of crimes include femicides, lynching, deaths from burns and homicides involving vulnerable groups like children.
The states with the highest number of atrocities are Guanajuato (203), Jalisco (180), and Guerrero (163), where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is fighting local groups for control. In the north, Baja California (152) had more brutal homicides and mass shootings than Chihuahua (69), making it the border state with the most violence.
Causa en Común investigator Rene Gerez Lopez said, "At first, yes, organized crime and control of territory increases crime, but not all violence in this country is drug-related. They're just killing each other' (is) the argument the government uses to explain and (dismiss) the killings."
Lopez added, "But the truth is at this stage violence has become generalized and, in some places, become a way to solve conflicts. The numbers are absurd."
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