Mexican drug cartels are very adept at sending messages and warnings to those who would dare cross them. We’ve  reported extensively on this, including a similar story to the one linked below that took place last year.

According to this newest story, 9 bodies were found hanging from an overpass and 14 heads were left outside the city hall in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico in coolers accompanied by a threatening note.

The official provided no motive for the killings. But the city across the border from Laredo, Texas has recently been torn by a renewed turf war between the Zetas cartel, a gang of former Mexican special-forces soldiers, and the powerful Sinaloa cartel, which has joined forces with the Gulf cartel, former allies of the Zetas.

Local media published photos of the nine bloodied bodies, some with duct tape wrapped around their faces, hanging from the overpass along with a message threatening the Gulf cartel.

“This is how I will finish all the fools you send,” the banner read.

It also accused its rivals of setting off a car bomb that exploded outside Nuevo Laredo police headquarters last week and it made fun of a Sinaloa cartel enforcer killed in a Nuevo Laredo prison two years ago. “He cried like a woman giving birth,” it said.

Imagine this happening in the United States. We’ve reported on cartel activity in the U.S. before and our readers know this isn’t a far-fetched notion.

The violence associated with the War on Drugs is not “someone else’s problem.” It is at our doorstep. What will we do about it?

- Joe Klare