Mexico: two heads discovered in polling stations

 Steph Deschamps / June 7, 2021

Two human heads were discovered at polling stations in the northwestern Mexican city of Tijuana, bordering the United States, during Sunday's elections in Mexico, local authorities reported.

In an initial incident, when the polls had been open for just over an hour, a man approached and threw a human head inside, according to a report from the Baja California State Attorney's Office. Voting was momentarily disrupted and police intervention was necessary to remove the head.

A few hours later, at a polling station in the same area, a man approached and left another head and dismembered human remains in a wooden box, placed right next to the ballot box.

Near another polling station, bags containing human remains were also found, according to the prosecutor's report.

This string of incidents occurred in the same Tijuana voting district bordering San Diego, California. 

At the heart of drug-related violence, Tijuana has already been the scene of macabre discoveries of human remains. A few years ago, a naked body was found hanging from a bridge with its fingers and tongue cut off, sewn together and placed around its neck.

Another man was found hanging, naked and with his genitals in his mouth.

Mexico held elections on Sunday to renew 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and elect more than 20,000 local officials. The campaign was marked by violence, with 91 politicians killed since September, including 36 candidates or pre-candidates, according to the consulting firm Etellekt.

According to official figures, more than 300,000 people have been killed in Mexico since 2006, when the federal government launched a major military operation against the drug cartels.