Mexican cartel decapitates pregnant teen and puts head in cooler as 'message'

A pregnant 16-year-old girl was kidnapped, tortured, murdered and decapitated by a Mexican drug cartel, with her head left in a cooler to send a message.

Noemí’s head was found in Tabasco as gang violence continues to plague the region. It comes as questions still surround the kidnapping and murder of Irma Hernández Cruz in Veracruz.

On Thursday, July 24, a white Styrofoam cooler was found on the Vía Corta Cunduacán–La Isla highway, near the Juárez Autonomous University of Tabasco. Inside, authorities found a human head wrapped in a black bag, along with a narco-message written by a local criminal group. It comes after a doctor was decapitated by lift in a hospital accident as colleague watched in horror.

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Days later, relatives identified the young victim: Noemí "N," 16. She had been missing for days before her discovery. RLocal media reports indicate that Noemí was pregnant at the time of the crime. The teenager was abducted in the La Libertad community, tortured, and ultimately decapitated.

The rest of the body was found in a plastic drum floating in the Samaria River, also in Cunduacán. Investigations continue into her remains.

Authorities have not commented or detailed any possible motives or progress in the investigation. The case raised alarms beyond Tabasco. Activists and groups of victims' families strongly criticized the authorities' inaction and complicity.

Brayan LeBaron , a renowned anti-violence activist, wrote on social media: “Children are not messengers of fear. In Tabasco, Noemí was beheaded; she was a 16-year-old girl. Her fate was to end up in a cooler, and her life was used to send a message that seeks to continue sowing terror. The worst thing is that our children are paying for this complicity with their lives. We cannot allow our children to end up being the messengers of fear.”

Meanwhile, Ceci Flores , from the Madres Buscadoras collective of Sonora, spoke to the family's grief: "There is no greater pain than that felt when you lose a child, but it is multiplied when you know that their farewell was filled with suffering and fear and you weren't there to defend them."

Noemí's and Irma Hernández Cruz, highlights concerns surrounding women’s safety in Mexican communities facing gang violence amid extreme methods used by organised criminals to instill fear and maintain territorial control.

Questions remain regarding how these women can be protected.