Most BRUTAL Torture Methods by Mexican Cartel's

January 2, 2010. It’s a warm night in  Mexico’s Sonora state when 36-year-old Hugo Hernandez is taking an evening walk.  He has no idea that, in the next few days, his name will be in newspapers all over the world  - for the most horrifying reason imaginable.

As he walks, he barely registers  the van approaching from behind, until it pulls up next to him, and the side  panel slides open. Several men in ski masks pile out and make a run for Hernandez.  They beat him down, zip-tie his wrists, and pull a black sack over his head.

In a matter  of seconds, this human cargo is bundled up into the back of the van, which speeds away  from the curb with a screech of tires. He’s just been kidnapped by Sicarios from  the Sinaloa Drg Cartel, one of the most feared and powerful drug cartels in all of  Mexico. But Hugo’s ordeal isn’t over.

Not by a long shot. He’s about to find out exactly  why the Sinaloas command so much terror. When Hugo Hernandez wakes up, he’s in Sinaloa  territory.

The Sicarios beat him viciously while one among their number readies a chainsaw.  This is where everything gets messy - Both in the room where Hernandez is being held and in  our knowledge of the story. We don’t know for sure whether Hernandez was alive when they  expertly peeled off his face.

We don’t know if he was alive when they cut off every one of  his limbs, before tearing his head from his torso. We can only hope, for Hugo’s sake,  that they were feeling merciful that day. What we do know is what happened afterward. 

On January 8, after the Sicarios are finished with Hugo, his torso and all of the limbs  that used to be attached to it turn up in two large plastic containers on the  streets of Los Mochis. Hugo’s face, meticulously stitched onto a soccer  ball, is found in a plastic bag near City Hall with a note that reads, “Happy  New Year, because this will be your last. ” Because when it comes to the  dark art of violence and torture, the drug cartels of Mexico are  nothing if not disgustingly creative.

You’ve heard the stories - Shootings, stabbings,  decapitations. It’s all true, and what’s more, it’s generally underselling just how brutal  agents and even leaders of Mexico’s biggest drug cartels can be. This is a multi-billion  dollar industry, and one of the most competitive in the world.

It’s why some of Mexico’s  leading drug cartels, like the Sinaloas and the Zetas, need to go so above and beyond in  establishing that they’re not to be messed with. And leading the charge is Joaquin Guzman, the now  incarcerated leader of the Sinaloa Drg cartel, that you might know better by his nickname, El  Chapo - “Shorty”, in English. And if the career of Joe Pesci has taught us anything, it’s that  little guys with a homicidal streak are some of the scariest gangsters of all.

Let’s take a look  at some of the ways that El Chapo has redefined brutality even as drug cartels go, with some of  his uniquely strange and sadistic torture methods, starting with how he saw fit to punish rival  drug peddler Israel Rincon, aka El Guacho. According to unsealed court documents,  El Chapo’s men got ahold of Rincon and dragged him into a garden outhouse  on one of his properties. There, the torture began: While Cartel agents filmed the  interrogation, Rincon’s teeth were ripped out, and he was electrocuted in the ear.

He was beaten  and humiliated as they extracted information from him, but Seventually, the pain got too much  for Rincon to bear, and he fell unconscious. At this point, the Sinoloa torturers called in  a doctor to treat and revive El Guacho so they could continue torturing him.  Once the torturers got bored, they murdered Rincon and disposed of his body in  Culiacán before posting the footage of the brutal torture to the internet.

And what happened  to Rincon was only the tip of the iceberg. El Chapo is a hands-on torture enthusiast. While  he often delegates his acts of brutality to some of his countless underlings, he’s also more than  happy to roll up his sleeves and get to torturing himself.

According to one eyewitness, he beat  two people with a branch until their bodies were, quote, “like rag dolls” from so many broken  bones, before having them thrown onto a bonfire. Another incident had him non-fatally shoot a rival  cartel boss before ordering that the man be buried alive to suffocate slowly. A witness at El Chapo’s  trial, Isaias Valdez Rios, described the latter’s torture as follows: “He had burns made with  an iron on his back, his shirt was stuck to his skin.

He had burns made with a car lighter all  over his body. His feet were burned. ” It was only after days of being left for dead in an old wooden  structure that El Chapo saw fit to bury the man.

One of the drug lord’s most trusted  associates, Antonio "Jaguar" Marrufo, had a special room in his mansion built  specifically for the torture and murder of their rivals in the drug trade. The  room had a fitted drain in the ground to let the blood drain away more easily, as  well as non-stick tiles and soundproofing technology to stop anyone from the outside  from hearing the horrific screams from within. El Chapo’s apples didn’t fall far from the tree,  either.

His sons - Iván and Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Joaquín and Ovidio Guzmán López - formed  their own Sinaloa splinter cartel known as “Los Chapitos,” or “Little Chapos,” along with close El  Chapo associate, hitman Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, aka El Nini. As you’ve probably predicted  by now, they share their old man’s love of horrific torture, and keep a ranch in  Navolato where the worst of it takes place. People close to the matter have reported that  they twist corkscrews into the flesh of their victims before yanking them out and rubbing hot  chilli peppers on the open wounds.

Some are fed, either dead or alive, depending on how lucky  they are, to the tigers some of El Chapo’s sons keep as pets. They’re also known for  making drug mules out of the local civilians, in many cases killing them and their  families if they refuse the offer. But Mexico’s cartel community isn’t going to let  the Sinaloa syndicate have all the “fun.

” There are plenty of horrific instances of violence and  torture from El Chapo’s many competitors, and now, we’re going to take you on a traumatic  crash course through some of the worst ones. Seriously, we’re begging you, put down  that sandwich. It’s gonna get really gross.

Probably one of the most infamous cases of  cartel torture was the one committed against DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985 when  his undercover investigation was blown open by members of the ruthless Guadalajara cartel. Kiki’s  death was anything but quick, as his captors saw fit to torture him to death over the course  of 30 hours of grueling and humiliating hours. On February 7th, 1985, he was ambushed by a group  of armed men in Guadalajara on the way to the US Consulate.

He went without a struggle, knowing  that he was outmatched, and he was taken to a secondary location where the torture commenced.  He was bound to a chair while the cartel torturers recorded the interrogation, beating him  so viciously that his skull, jaw, nose, cheekbones, and windpipe were crushed. We can  only imagine the horror that Kiki felt when his captors produced a power drill, which they used  to drill into his skull while he was still alive.

How do we know he was still alive? The toxicology report showed the presence of  amphetamines in Kiki’s system, despite the fact that he never used the drugs  himself. This implied to DEA investigators that Kiki was given the drugs so that he would  remain awake and conscious during his torture.

In more recent years, members of the Jalisco  Nueva Generación Cartel (or CJNG) captured a member of a rival cartel, the aforementioned Los  Chapitos, and decided to record his torture and murder. By the time the video started, the  man’s face was already beaten and bloody, and his arms were tied behind his back on  a chair. One of his torturers produced a chainsaw while another questioned him,  and began sawing into the man’s legs.

Eventually, when the torturers  had done all they wanted to, they sawed off the man’s legs  entirely and poured water onto him. Then there are the horrific crimes of Los Zetas,  one of the best-known drug cartels outside of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Zetas don’t have the Sinaloa’s  numbers or name recognition, but they make up for it with their truly extraordinary acts of  brutality.

In one video, a woman in a pink shirt is forced onto her knees by a Los Zetas agent, who  holds up a straight razor before saying, “Well, gentleman, this is what happens to all those  in the Gulf Cartel. On behalf of Los Zetas. ” The woman does not resist, seemingly  drugged, as the man holds the razor to her throat and slices off her head  over the course of a brutal 40 seconds, as her perforated throat wheezes air. 

This particular video understandably garnered massive controversy  when it was leaked on Facebook. Much like Los Chapitos, the Zetas even have  their own murder, torture, and body disposal ranch: La Gallera ranch in northern Veracruz.  After taking it over in 2011, the Zetas have used it as a hub of mass cremation, incinerating  their victims to avoid evidence of their crimes ever coming to light.

These cremations were  performed in the ranch’s twelve “Kitchens,” in a scene described by witnesses as something far  worse than any horror movie could ever conjure up. Some victims were dissolved in bathtubs full  of acid. Others were chopped up and fed to crocodiles.

In more pedestrian but no less  horrifying cases, the bodies of the kidnapped, tortured, and murdered were buried in mass  graves around the property. Perhaps the most upsetting part is that the locals knew this  was happening for years, and even reported it, but the corrupt local police were in the  pocket of the Zetas, and nothing was done. Whenever Los Zetas and the kitchen  mixes, something horrible is sure to happen - and this fact is true all the way  to the top.

Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, one of the alleged leaders of the cartel group,  had a particular form of torture and execution he enjoyed that’s referred to as “El Guiso”  or “The Stew. ” Victims would be forced into 55-gallon metal drums alive, and a fire would then  be set underneath them, slowly boiling them alive. The incident that truly put Los Zetas on the  map was the infamous 2011 San Fernando Massacre, where the Zetas kidnapped and murdered 193  people on La Joya Ranch.

After hijacking a number of buses, the victims were dragged to the  ranch, where the women were brutalized and killed, and the men were given weapons and forced to  fight each other to the death. People who were willing to kill to save their own lives were  then recruited as more ruthless hitmen for Los Zetas in what is perhaps the most horrific  job application process in modern history. The most horrifying part is that  this isn’t even an isolated incident.

Multiple cartels have used forcing people  to kill others as a source of psychological torment. A video that leaked online in 2023  appeared to show the horrifying fate of 5 students lured onto a cartel compound, who  were forced to kill each other on camera when they refused an offer to join the  cartel. The video depicted one student decapitating another with a machete, as another  had their head beaten in with a piece of rock.

The cocky and in-your-face style of Los  Zetas made them plenty of enemies. They hanged two members of the Gulf Cartel, and  in one video, filmed themselves disposing of the headless bodies of 49 migrant workers  whom they’d murdered. The former was seen as particularly insulting by members of the  Gulf Cartel, because the Zetas had originally served as their security force, before  splintering off and forming their own group.

In 2012, the Gulf Cartel struck back with some  horrific violence of their own. They released a video of several captured members of the  Zetas tied up, and pleading for mercy as they’re interrogated about their leaders. When the  Gulf Cartel operatives tire of asking questions, they descend on the Zetas with machetes, brutally  hacking off each of their heads without so much as a flicker of remorse.

Cartel members live  by the machete, and die by the machete. Filming their crimes, as you may have  noticed, is pretty standard for cartels. In one particularly vile video filmed  by a group of unknown cartel members, you can see them goofing off with a severed human  face while surrounded by dead bodies.

One of them puts the face on like a Halloween mask, while  his cartel friends laugh and joke about it. You may be feeling a little queasy hearing  about all this murder and mayhem - though it kind of makes us wonder why you clicked  on a video called “Mexican Cartels' Most Brutal Torture Methods” - but, at the  very least, we’ve got a consolation: The Cartel isn’t running unopposed. Mexico’s  finest are on the case, the top cops who want to put cartels like the Sinaloas and the  Zetas on notice.

Like Luis Cárdenas Palomino, a law enforcement official once voted “Mexico’s  best police officer,” and he won’t rest until-- Wait, he was working for the cartel, too? AND  he was also involved in torturing people! ?

That’s right, while we personally think that  Palomino’s “best police officer” award should be revoked, he’s in the runnings for one of its  most criminal and corrupt. He was arrested for abusing suspects under his care, facilitating  torture, and essentially being a glorified errand boy for El Chapo. His former boss, Genaro  Garcia Luna, was also imprisoned for corruption and drug trafficking, so he’s been doing a  fine job holding up institutional traditions.

Palomino has a shady past, having been  implicated in a murder in his adolescence, before proving himself to be a reliable asset for  cartel bigwigs who wanted a friend on the inside of Mexican law enforcement. Because of crooked  cops like Palomino, Mexican law enforcement and special forces have been accused of a bevy of  horrific crimes - from taking bribes to committing straight-up massacres on the cartel’s behalf.  And, of course, there’s plenty of torture, too!

One of the favorite methods of people like  Palomino is known locally as the chicharra, which involves using a cattle prod  to repeatedly shock the genitals of a prisoner in order to induce confessions  - even if they know the person they’re tormenting is innocent. They’ve also been  known to repeatedly suffocate victims with plastic bags, employ Guantanamo-style  waterboarding techniques, and beat victims within an inch of their life, sometimes  accidentally killing them in the process. Dr Robert Bunker, a research director at  the security consulting firm C/O Futures LLC, said of the torturous cartel cops,  “Basic [torture] techniques can include the use of bladed instruments,  pliers, and clippers, but fire, water, and electrical-based approaches  can also be readily applied.

” But we can’t lay the responsibility of  all this torture at the feet of Palomino; it’s far more systemic in nature than that.  An anonymous Mexican police commander told the Daily Beast, “Torture is committed on  a grand scale, and it will never disappear, because our institutions lack the resources  and capacity to prosecute someone for what is done through torture. ” This same anonymous  commander to his cartel-corrupted co-workers employed psychological tortures as well as  physical, like arresting the families of victims and threatening to kill or torture  them too in order to induce confessions.

Former DEA chief of international operations Mike  Vigil actually claimed that brutal torture methods have been a part of the Mexican law enforcement  credo even outside of Cartelian influence. He said, “All of Mexico’s security forces have  used torture since their very inception, and it has become normal for them. They look at it  as an easy way to solve cases and don’t understand that it is a violation of human rights or  that anyone will confess when tortured.

” Of course, Mexican drug cartels don’t have  an absolute monopoly on disturbing cartel violence. After all, one of the most feared  and infamous drug kingpins of all time, Pablo Escobar, was Colombian. However, one of the  most popular factoids about how Escobar’s Medellin Cartel liked to torture people is actually an  urban legend: The dreaded Colombian Necktie.

Now, we don’t mean that it was a total myth like  the Iron Maiden, it was very much practiced on people for a number of years. The torture involves  slitting the victim’s throat, and yanking the tongue out of the wound, so it rests against  the upper chest like a bloody necktie. However, while it’s commonly misattributed to Pablo  and his gang, it was actually a feature of a brutal period of the Colombian Civil War  known as La Violencia, which went on for a decade between 1948 and 1958 - predating the  1976 rise of the Medellin Cartel by decades.

For all our torture and mutilation fans  out there, La Violencia was a goldmine of atrocities - From the Colombian Necktie to the  “Flower Vase Cut,” where victims’ limbs were cut off and stuffed into their body, to a torture  where - much like the Mexican cartels - victims’ genitals were cut off and shoved into their  mouth. And, perhaps most upsetting of all, cases where pregnant women had the fetuses cut  out of their wombs and replaced with a rooster. The cruel irony of all the coverage of  Mexican Cartel brutality - including this video - is exactly what the cartel wants.

The  theatrical brutality of the cartel is a brutal but sophisticated PR move, advancing their  image as feared and unstoppable gangsters who rule their respective territories. Very  similar to the tactics employed by terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS with their  own traumatic videos of horrific violence. But the acts of torture and  murder are often so audacious; how could they not provoke some kind of reaction?

But if this video has taught you  anything, it’s hopefully this: If you find yourself taking a vacation to  Mexico any time soon, and you happen to run into someone involved in a drug cartel  - Remember to be polite. If we make another one of these videos, we’d hate for any of  our subscribers to appear in that sequel. Now check out “El Chapo Versus Pablo Escobar -  How Do They Compare?

” Or watch this video instead!