Evidence that the Tlatlaya victims were executed

(La Jornada).- Fourteen of the 22 persons killed by Mexican Army soldiers in the town of San Pedro Limon in Tlatlaya, State of Mexico, were placed less than a meter from the walls and shot at close range by the military.

"For the impact from a bullet of that caliber (from M-1 rifles) to leave a hole that size after traveling through a body, it has to have been fired from less than 30 centimeters (12 in.) from the victim", stated criminologist Jose Luis Mejia Contreras when he analyzed the photographic material from the crime scene, which was delivered anonymously to the MVT news agency.

The scene where 22 persons allegedly lost their lives during a confrontation with the military this past June 30, "was totally manipulated; there were bodies that were planted and evidence disappeared.

"If the confrontation took place between those who were inside and military personnel who were outside the warehouse, there was a distance of 20 to 30 meters between them, which means that any bullet fired by the military would have remained inside the body, given that no weapon is capable of (firing a bullet) through a (human) body that hits wall and leaves such a large hole." 

The photographs delivered to the MVT news agency were supposedly taken while the bodies and the weapons allegedly used to attack the military personnel had not yet been picked up by personnel from the Mexico State Attorney General's office (PGJEM: Procuraduria General de Justicia del Estado de Mexico), and at no time did the crime scene investigators place markers that indicated the location of empty cartridge cases fired by the victims. 

None of the alleged criminals killed during the confrontation, which according to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), lasted three hours, was shot in the head; all were shot in the chest or the abdomen.

With respect to the 14 persons who were taken towards the walls of the warehouse, the criminologist specified that they were  made to stand up, and the photographs show that in each case there were two shots fired at a height of between 1.20 and 1.40 meters.

"One of the most revealing items of evidence is that the victims all have mud stains on their knees, and others on their chests, then their bodies show up dumped on rocks in totally dry terrain.

"Those persons had been subdued; they stayed more than a half hour on their knees, some with their chests on the dirt; then perhaps they were made to stand up and they were shot from less than 30 centimeters (12 inches) away, which caused the bullets to travel through their bodies and hit the walls, leaving a big hole", Mejia Contreras explained in his analysis performed at MVT's request.

He pointed out that nobody dies in a confrontation with their legs crossed, because the movement dynamic that takes place when somebody falls after being shot in a gunfight exhibits the so-called "spinning top" effect; that is, the body spins towards the side opposite from where it receives the bullet's impact.

"In the scene we observe from the photographs, and the way the cadavers were placed, more than five bodies fell completely on their backs, and one more face down, but none of them shows the natural spin that results when (the body) is struck by a heavy caliber bullet from a distance of more than 20 meters, which indicates that these individuals were sacrificed at one place and then dragged to the place where the scene was staged, and they were all dumped on their backs to make it look as though they fell that way, which is impossible".   

With respect to the place where the alleged criminals were killed, it is a recently constructed warehouse, with a dirt floor that has materials such as gravel and sand spread all around the property. It has no doors that would prevent anybody from viewing the interior; it has only two access points  that have no curtains.

There were three pickup trucks inside, a Ford, a Honda and a Chevrolet Cheyenne. Despite the fact that they were supposedly used to shoot at the soldiers and to take cover from the soldiers' return fire, the vehicles are not seriously damaged. In fact, three bodies were placed in front of the open doors of the vehicles, as if, instead of trying to protect themselves, they were trying to protect the vehicles from being hit by bullets.

As for the site that was supposedly used to keep persons who were deprived of their freedom, he stated that nobody keeps a kidnapped person under those conditions.  

Jose Luis Mejia Contreras pointed out that there is no logic in the type of weaponry that they "planted" on the bodies, because, while the weapons are black, the magazines are grey, "and those are only used by the military".

In many cases, the weapons are placed in perfect alignment with the bodies, apparently held (that way), or even the extra magazines that the victims supposedly used were placed parallel to the rifles.

Note: The following photographs were delivered anonymously to the MTV news agency and are copied from the LaJornada photo gallery linked to the article. They are very graphic, but they show the details that the investigator points out in the article as evidence that the victims were executed by a firing squad, not killed during a gunfight as alleged by the Mexican military. Also, please note that I did not use all 23 photographs in the La Jornada photo gallery, only enough of them to illustrate the points brought out in the article. Rather than caption each photograph, please not the following factors:

1.   The bodies are placed in unnatural positions. According to the investigator, bodies do not fall like that when shot.
2.  Some bodies have mud on their knees, chests and face although the ground where they supposedly fell is dry and covered with sand and gravel.
3.    The mud on their knees and chests indicates they spent some time on their knees or face down on the ground.
4.    The weapons are placed parallel to the bodies.
5.   The rifle magazines are also placed parallel to the bodies and are of the type used by the military.
6.    All the bodies are shot from the front in the chest and the abdomen; none is shot in the head. This is very unusual in a firefight.
7.    The bullet holes in the wall and the blood splatters show the victims were standing in front of the wall and were shot from close range in the chest and abdomen.
8.    The vehicles show very little damage even though they were supposedly used by the gunmen as cover and even though the confrontation was supposed to have lasted three hours. In addition, some of the bodies supposedly fell in front of the vehicles, not behind the vehicles as would be the case if they were using the vehicles for cover. 
9.    The entrance to the warehouse is wide and would not have provided any protection for the alleged gunmen, especially since the vehicles were clearly not used for cover. The interior is totally visible from outside the warehouse..
10.    Finally, note the complete absence of fired cartridge cases and blood splatter under the victims; this after a three hour firefight.

I would apologize for the gruesome photographs, but they are necessary to show what really happened in that incident . -- un vato