Mexican Cartel Forces Its Recruits To Commit Cannibalism In Initiation Ritual

"Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

The CJNG recruits are forced to eat their rivals, starting with the fingers amputated in an initiation ritual, those who immediately refuse become victims of the other trainees

Cannibalism is the latest tactic in a violent turf war between two of Mexico's most brutal cartels.

The gruesome practice of cannibalism, exposed in a viral video that surfaced last month, is the latest tactic in a violent turf war between two of Mexico's most brutal cartels — "a kind of Olympic Games of cruelty and sadism," reported the DailyBeast.

"I've been there and there was a lot (cannibalism)," a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel told the media. “They recruit them and then start working on them.

"First they teach them how to cut people," said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They start by learning to cut off limbs."

He said the recruits are then forced to eat their victims, starting with the severed fingers.

“They are given the choice of one of those pieces to eat in front of the boss,” said the man. “You have to do it without reaction or vomiting or they assault you. If you don't want to (eat human flesh), they won't let you go."

The revelation comes amid a turf war between Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, formerly led by jailed drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Mike Vigil, the DEA's former head of international operations, said cannibalism is instilled in recruits at various narco training sites in Mexico to turn them into "emotionless killing machines."

"The only way out of there is feet first," Vigil told the Daily Beast.

“If the terrorist school recruits show fear or make mistakes or infractions, they instantly become victims of the other trainees, who dismember and decapitate them and then eat their flesh.”

Those who survive the grotesque initiation ritual are indoctrinated into the cartel after a graduation that includes drugs and prostitutes, but they are never the same.

“Once a group of new recruits have graduated from training, meaning they have hunted, killed, skinned, cooked and then eaten their assigned victim, they cannot return to traditional Mexican society,” said the security analyst, Robert Bunker.

“They have been forever transformed. In a sense, their souls have been darkened in the process,” Bunker said. "Having survived this brutal 'trial by fire,' they will not hesitate to carry out future cartel orders, no matter how barbaric they may be." 

He said the video of a cartel member's “battlefield cannibalism”, which went viral after it surfaced last month, is now part of the brutal narcos' arsenal.

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