Colombian gangsters murder 10 peasants

Suspected gangsters murdered 10 workers on a fruit farm in northern Colombia on 7 November, firing "indiscriminately" before throwing a grenade at them, The Associated Press reported, citing police statements. The police were reportedly told that three gunmen gathered a group of workers on an estate in the district of Santa Rosa de Osos in the Antióquia department, and asked if the business was paying protection money; the workers apparently did not know or would not say, whereupon the gunmen began shooting. The massacre was attributed to the Rastrojos gang, the broadcaster Caracol reported on 8 November. Colombia's Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón said in Bogotá on 8 November that "such barbaric acts have no explanation," though police commanders would travel to the zone to investigate, El Espectador reported. Pinzón said in an interview with Blu Radio that the incident was of concern as authorities had recently detained the presumed local head of the Rastrojos, dubbed 18. The governor of Antióquia Sergio Fajardo Valderrama also spoke to Blu Radio, lamenting that "the criminal phenomenon" continued even as leading criminals were caught. Separately a Venezuelan beauty queen and two Colombians were among five arrested in Venezuela at an unspecified date and being questioned for suspected ties to the Colombian drug trafficker Daniel "Crazy" Barrera, arrested last September. The detained, including Gabriela Alexandra Fernández Ocando - beauty queen for the Venezuelan state of Zulia in 2008 - may be charged with money laundering and criminal conspiracy, Caracol reported on 8 November.

Eight killed around Mexico, drug cash found

"At least" eight people were reported to have been killed or found dead on 7 November in different parts of Mexico, including one in the form of a severed head found on a road outside Ríoverde in north-central Mexico. Others included suspected criminals killed in shootouts with the police, Proceso reported. Criminals were also reported that day to have kidnapped the mother of a regional legislator in western Mexico. Sandra Luz Ríos Ríos was abducted from her bakery in a village in the Benito Juárez district of the state of Guerrero, Proceso reported. Her son Ricardo Ángel Barrientos Ríos was elected last July to the state parliament of Guerrero for the leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party; he was mayor of Benito Juárez in 2009-12. Guerrero has in past months witnessed regular violence as cartels fight to control its territory. In the northern state of Nuevo León, authorities presented to the press on 7 November four presumed members of the Gulf Cartel likely involved in murders and kidnappings, detained on a state highway on 22 October, Proceso reported. They were said to have confessed to their roles in 13 killings including of policemen, and 16 kidnappings in southern Nuevo León. Separately the explosion of a house for a gas leak in the north-western city of Tijuana led police to find there about 1.8 million USD thought to belong to the Sinaloa Cartel, Proceso reported on 7 November. Five children or teenagers were injured by the explosion as was a woman identified as niece of the trafficker and cartel member Raydel López Uriarte, jailed in 2010. In Coatzacoalcos in the eastern state of Veracruz the army arrested a "criminal cell," confiscating from them items including six cars, 500 doses of cocaine, cash worth about 20,000 USD and arms including a machine gun and a rocket launcher, Proceso reported.

Policemen ambushed, murderers caught in Mexico

Three policemen killed in an ambush were among six reported victims of violence around Mexico on 6 November. The three members of the state police were shot while driving in the district of Arcelia in the western state of Guerrero, Proceso reported. A suspect was separately shot dead by police in the northern city of Torreón, after refusing to stop his car; a gun was later found inside. Another victim identified as a local drug dealer, was shot dead by police in Tulum on Mexico's Caribbean coast. He and two others were sought out when police received a phone call that "three armed men were beating" someone in a karaoke bar. They escaped toward a house whence they fired on police coming after them; one was arrested. Proceso separately reported an "attack" on police late on 5 November in the Pánuco district of the eastern state of Veracruz, apparently without casualties. Authorities announced also the arrest, apparently in the western city of Guadalajara, of two presumed members of the cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (JNG) who confessed to killing three public-transport employees in neighbouring Zapopan on 11 October. They said they had been ordered to kill the drivers to avenge the death of a relative of one of the cartel's leaders by a bus driver, though it was not immediately clear if this had been an accident, Proceso reported on 6 November. The JNG cartel reportedly killed five transport workers in Zapopan that day. The detained confessed to taking part in 14 other killings, including of a three-year-old accidently killed in a shootout.

Sandinistas win Nicaraguan local polls

Nicaragua's ruling National Liberation Sandinista Front (FSLN), the party of President Daniel Ortega, won most city governments in the municipal elections of 4 November, amid the skepticism of some observers and post-election clashes in five municipalities. The United Alliance (Alianza Unida, AU) led by the Sandinistas was officially declared to have won 134 of 153 municipal governments including 14 of 17 departmental capitals and the capital Managua, Europa Press reported on 6 November citing reports of official declarations. The officialist mayoress of Managua Daysi Torres retained her post, reportedly winning some 230,000 votes more than her challenger Alfredo Gutiérrez. The head of the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) Roberto Rivas reportedly gave 57.7 per cent as the participation rate of eligible voters and 75.69 per cent as the share of votes won by AU. The opposition Independent Liberal Party (PLI) won 12 municipal governments and Yatama, an indigenist party allied to the government, three, EFE reported. The agency added that three were killed in clashes in five districts in northern and western Guatemala; unspecified opposition offices were destroyed in one municipality, it reported. Not all observers were as delighted with the results as the government: the civic association Ética y Transparencia, which seeks strictly democratic institutions in Nicaragua, deplored the polls as a "farse" and alleged a "structure" parallel to the state had handled ballots unsupervised, EFE reported. The US State Department observed in turn that the elections had not been transparent enough to assure that "the process faithfully reflected the will of the Nicaraguan people." Its spokeswoman Victoria Nuland cited on 5 November reported irregularities including individuals being prevented from voting and "cases of voters being allowed to vote multiple times." The Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) sent by the Organization of American States suggested specific improvements to the electoral process, but stated it had observed a generally "civic atmsophere," Europa Press reported.

Other Colombian rebels urged to start peace talks

The president of the Colombian Senate Roy Barreras Montealegre urged the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) on 3 November to start talking to the state "soon," emulating the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and help end decades of civil conflict in the country. His comments, made in Pasto in the south-western Nariño department, followed the ELN's own recent proposals about possible talks. Barreras suggested separate talks with the ELN as they were part of a "different story" and had differing interests from the FARC, El Espectador reported. The ELN are Colombia's second guerrilla force in terms of numbers. Barreras was attending an event in Pasto to collect citizen's opinions on negotiations with the FARC. He said addressing the FARC that Colombians wanted an end to kidnappings before their could be peace; "we want a peace without traps. I especially hope before agreements are signed in coming months that there will be no more kidnappings nor children recruited by the guerrillas," he said. On 5 November Colombia asked Pope Benedict XVI to bless the incipient peace process with the FARC. The request was made by the new ambassador to the Holy See, Germán Cardona Gutiérrez, while presenting his credentials to the Supreme Pontiff, El Espectador reported. "Fierce fighting" was reported in contrast on 4 November between Colombian troops and the FARC, in the south-western district of Corinto. Five including an eight-year-old child were injured as gun shots and mortar fire were exchanged in hilly country around the town of Corinto in the Cauca department, the broadcaster Caracol reported. The army said one guerrilla was captured and another surrendered.

Cartel suspect detained in Mexico, four killed

Four men were found dead in eastern Mexico on 4 November with indications they had been "executed" by a cartel or gang, Proceso reported. Their bodies were found outside the town of Tierra Blanca with heads covered, hands tied and showing "signs of torture," the review reported. Authorities were reported that day to have made several arrests around Mexico. On 1 November soldiers arrested a suspect identified as "one of the most important" members of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Mexico's leading cartel though challenged by rivals, Proceso reported on 4 November. Jesús Alfredo Salazar Ramírez - El Muñeco (Doll) - was stopped in Huixquilucan in the Estado de México state. He headed Los Salazar, a gang said to be part of the Sinaloa cartel, and was sought for his suspected in role in "numerous" executions around northern Mexico and in the capital, including of the anti-crime activist Nepomuceno Moreno Núñez in November 2011. A Texas court had separately issued an arrest warrant for him, for charges of criminal association and drug trafficking. On 3 or 4 November police arrested three Guatemalans "wearing military uniforms" thought to have participated in "one of the shootouts" reported on 3 November in the northern city of Reynosa, Proceso reported. They were detained after they began shooting at a police patrol near their purported hideout; arms, ammunition and hand grenades were found in the house. Proceso reported another shoutout in Reynosa on 4 November, in a shopping centre and apparently without casualties.

Twenty six reported killed around Mexico

It was one of Mexico's more violent days: more than 25 were reported killed or found dead on 1-2 November, including four whose dismembered bodies were left outside a police station with a warning message. Presumed cartel members left the bodies in a car boot outside a federal police station in the northern city of Torreón, with a message to the "asshole" police to "keep still" or there would be more violence, the review Proceso reported on 2 November. Also in Torreón, gunmen fired on a congregation attending a "service" or ceremony in honour of the figure of Holy Death, killing six in the group. The cult of Holy Death (Santa Muerte), depicted as a squeleton clad in robes not unlike those of the Virgin Mary, has in recent years emerged as a pseudo-religion followed mostly by the lower classes and criminals. In the west-coast state of Guerrero, four members of a family were shot dead at home late on 1 November, in the countryside of the Coyuca de Benítez district; a decapitated body was also left in a car in the nearby district of Acapulco, Milenio reported. In the state's Ajuchitlán de Progreso district, troops rescued a man kidnapped by a gang on 31 October and arrested nine suspects including four teenagers, Milenio reported on 2 November. The purported gang of kidnappers included four members aged 16 and one aged 19. In Cancún on Mexico's Caribbean coast, a 15-year-old boy and suspected thief was shot dead outside his home, at dawn on 1 November. The boy was reputedly "very violent" and had been reported several times to the police for thieving and assaults, Milenio reported. Police detained his mother, an uncle and a brother for questioning. His mother said she came out of the house and found his lifeless body, after she heard gun shots then her son "muttering."

Mayoress sends marines onto streets of Monterrey

Ninety Mexican marines began patrolling downtown Monterrey in northern Mexico on 1 November, in one of the new mayor's first moves to boost the crime-ridden city's security and to enhance, or restore, public trust in local security forces. Residents and drivers were said to have watched in surprise - or admiration - as armed and masked navy troops "slowly drove around" central Monterrey, stopping to inspect suspect vehicles, Guadalajara's 1070 Radio reported. Margarita Arellanes Cervantes, Monterrey's first female mayor since its foundation in 1596, said that day that "we are starting a new phase," even as she urged people to "call and inform" on suspects to help beat crime, Milenio reported on 2 November. She said she hoped people would trust patrols including troops and policemen, in a country where many local policemen are distrusted if not despised, and intermittently dismissed for ties to organized crime. Arellanes, a member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), was elected mayor in July's general elections. She has vowed the "reconstruction" of Monterrey and vowed "absolute transparency" when taking office on 31 October at a ceremony in the city's theatre; "let me say very clearly, there will be no acts hidden from the law in my government. I shall watch over the absolute transparency of every one of our actions nor tolerate under any circumstance the stain of suspicion or the shadow of corruption," the website Terra cited her as saying. Earlier in October she declared that municipal employees accross the board in Monterrey would have to sit through "confidence" tests, and this seemed to have begun. On 1 November she said 80 city policemen had failed these tests and were expected to leave their posts before December. She also appointed a soldier, Rear-Admiral Augusto Cruz Morales, as the new police chief of Monterrey.

Colombian rebels killed by own bomb before attack

Two members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed on 31 October by a bomb they were carrying in the town of Pradera in western Colombia, avoiding what the mayor said would have been a "tragedy" as people were out and about for Halloween festivities. Nevertheless over 30 people including 14 children were injured when the bomb exploded in the town's park, according to the daily El Espectador; the guerrillas were thought to be taking the bomb on bicycles toward a police station, Europa Press reported, citing Colombia's El Tiempo. Colombia's police chief José León Riaño called this a "demented and cowardly" attack and told the FARC to expect a firm response, El Espectador reported on 1 November. He said at a police event that FARC chiefs should sit at the negotiating table in Havana if they wanted to stay alive. Colombia and the FARC are to pursue planned peace conversations in Havana on 15 November.

Five killed, policemen arrested in Mexico

Five including a former mayor and a municipal employee were murdered or found dead around Mexico on 31 October, while authorities detained 23 policemen in the district of Chalco south east of Mexico City, for suspected ties to the mafia, Proceso reported on 1 November. The suspected victims of organized crime included the former mayor of Miguel Alemán on Mexico's north-eastern frontier with the United States, shot to death as he  entered his house the evening of 31 October. The Municipal Secretary - likely a deputy-mayor - of Zumpango in the Estado de México state, separately died after being stabbed in the chest outside a clinic in that town; in the same state, the mayor-elect of Luvianos was "repeatedly" shot from car and badly injured as he drove on a state road. Early on 1 November, 1,400 state police and judicial agents of Estado de México participated in the arrests of 23 municipal policemen and five municipal employees of the Chalco and Valle de Chalco districts suspected of aiding criminals, Proceso reported. The suspects were held at the police stations where they worked to which they had been summoned for an inspection at four in the morning. They were taken to the prosecutor's office of the nearby district of Nezahualcóyotl.

Nine killed in Mexico, traffickers arrested

A policeman and two suspected criminals were three of "at least" nine reported killed or found dead around Mexico on 31 October. The three were killed in a shootout between security forces and gunmen in the district of Guasave in the north-western state of Sinaloa, Proceso reported. Four were killed the same day in a gun attack on a mechanical workshop in Guadalupe, next to the north-eastern city of Monterrey. The owner of the workshop, his son and two presumed employees were killed in that attack. Another victim was a policewoman reported kidnapped on 30 October, found dead in Tlapehuala in the western state of Guerrero. Marines separately arrested on 29 October a suspect identified as José Salgueiro Nevárez - El Che - presumed head of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Hidalgo de Parral in the northern state of Chihuahua where he was arrested, Proceso reported on 31 October. Four were arrested with him and arms, ammunition, seven cars and communication equipment confiscated. A man described by media as The Zetas cartel's main supplier of Colombian cocaine was arrested in Buenos Aires on 30 October following a multi-national investigation process, Proceso reported, citing declarations by Colombia's police chief José Roberto León. Henry de Jesús López Londoño - Mi Sangre or My Blood - was apparently arrested while attending to paperwork in Ecuador's embassy; Colombia, Argentine intelligence and the US Drug Enforcement Administration collaborated to find him.

Colombia's other rebel force proposes ceasefire

Colombian leftist rebels of the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, ELN) proposed a bilateral ceasefire with the government on 30 October as a first step toward possible peace, and echoing the peace conversations begun between the state and the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The ELN recalled this was not the first time it had sought a ceasefire or peace conversations with the state, Europa Press reported, citing Colombia's Caracol Radio. The state has refused a ceasefire while talking to the FARC. The communiqué was read out at a seminar on protecting civilians in Colombia's conflicts, organized by the NGO Geneva Call and backed by the UN. It expressed hope for an eventual peace allowing "truth to flourish" in Colombia and the "pains" of Colombians to be "treated with dignity," but also urged an eventual "cleansing" or purging of local and regional authorities imposed by unspecified "narcotic and paramilitary pressures and corruption." The guerrilla stated that dialogue engaged within a ceasefire would create greater trust and "relieve" the suffering of civilians in conflict zones, EFE reported. The ELN was formed in 1964 and is run by a five-member Central Command including its supreme leader, currently Nicolás Rodríguez Bautista or Gabino.

Ten reported killed around Mexico

Gunmen shot dead on 30 October the district Public Security or police chief of San Martín de Hidalgo in the western state of Jalisco, a week after a similar attack on a local police chief, Proceso reported. Eight assassins reportedly arrived in a Dodge truck at seven in the morning and forcibly entered the home of Casimiro Zárate Guerrero; the weekly reported an attack on 22 October on the police chief of Guadalupe, a nearby district within the Valles zone west of the city of Guadalajara. He and two colleagues were shot dead in that attack by individuals riding four "luxury" estate cars, presumaly members of a drug cartel. Also on 30 October, marines shot dead five suspected kidnappers in the Cosamaloapan district of the the east-coast state of Veracruz, as they sought to rescue a hostage, Proceso reported. A gun battle erupted when marines entered the roadside Villa Paraíso hotel looking for the son of a local notary reportedly held there; the kidnappers threw hand grenades at them. The judiciary in the neighbouring state of Tabasco separately presented to media on 30 October three suspected kidnappers arrested on 26 October and presumed members of a gang active in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas, Proceso reported. Four people were also reported shot dead that day: three men in Tonalá next to Guadalajara and a Honduran migrant in the state of Veracruz, Proceso reported.

Fourteen killed around Mexico

Fourteen people including five women and a teenager were killed around Mexico on 29 October in incidents mostly thought related to organized crime, Proceso reported. The dead included a woman gunned down outside a supermarket in Guachochi in the northern state of Chihuahua, in a scene likely seen by her three-year-old son who was sitting in a car nearby. Two women and a 13-year-old boy were gunned down in a beer shop in Guadalupe near the northern city of Monterrey. Soldiers also shot dead a gunman as they took over a ranch in the western state of Michoacán thought to belong to a presumed leader of the criminal gang Caballeros Templarios, Enrique Plancarte Solís or Kiki. Suspected gang members fled the estate, where an unspecified amount of arms and cash was found. In the west-coast resort of Acapulco, four or more armed men apparently sought to burn down a hotel after they entered pretending to be guests, Proceso reported on 29 October. Two entered the kitchens of the Costa Linda hotel on the coastal Miguel Alemán boulevard and started a fire with fuel, before the group fled. Staff put out the fire.

FARC attack kills six policemen in Colombia

Suspected members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attacked a police post in western Colombia on 29 October, killing six members of the highway police, media reported. The attack with gunfire and explosives took place on a road between the districts of Puerto Tejada and Villarica in the north of the Cauca department, and was suspected to be the work of the FARC's Sixth Front, El Colombiano reported on 30 October.

Salvador Allende's granddaughter now a mayor in Chile

Veterinarian, socialist and granddaughter of Chile's ill-fated president of the 1970s Salvador Allende, Maya Fernández Allende became on 28 October the mayor of the Ñuñoa commune or municipality in the Santiago Metropolitan zone, ousting a right-wing opponent during nationwide municipal elections. Her opponent Pedro Sabat Pietracaprina had been mayor since 1996, and lost by 92 votes to Fernández who won 44.9 per cent of votes cast, Agence France-Presse reported. France-Presse cited the academic Mauricio Morales as saying that such results were influenced by student protests in 2011 against the conservative government's education policies; these were especially vibrant in larger districts like Ñuñoa, where he said Sabat had responded with force, ordering police to dislodge several schools or colleges occupied by protesting students. Fernández reportedly expressed support for students. She admitted her family name may have influenced her votes, "but I do not know how much." Allende committed suicide on 11 September 1973 during a violent coup undertaken by the armed forces. Fernández's mother Beatriz Allende Bussi - a physician like her father - left Chile for Cuba where she too killed herself in 1977. Sabat's daughter Marcela Sabat Fernández, a member of the conservative Renovación Nacional coalition, represents the Ñuñoa and Providencia constituency in the lower house of parliament. She was reportedly the youngest member of the chamber.

Chile's Left advances in municipal polls

Chile's President Sebastián Piñera Echenique deplored the low voter turnout in the 28 October elections for 345 municipalities, which handed his left-wing opponents a relative victory and may herald their success in the general elections of November 2013. The officialist Renovación Nacional lost important municipal governments like Concepción or inside the Santiago conurbation, and cabinet changes were expected as the government began to plan its strategy for 2013. Renovación won 37.47 of votes cast and the center-left Concertación 43.1 per cent, Reuters reported on 29 October, also qualifying the unprecedented abstention as the government's "second defeat." The head of the Electoral Service Juan Ignacio García said early that a lower turnout was normal in municipal polls, and anticipated the usual 15 per cent abstention rate to rise to 40 per cent this time, EFE reported. In turned out to be 60 per cent or over, with Dpa reporting on "dozens" of polling stations where nobody voted. Piñera, president since 2009, said on 28 October that many "exercised their right not to" vote but that this was "an alarm signal for democracy" in Chile. The "voluntary vote means respecting the freedom of citizens, but liberty also means duties," he said, stating nevertheless that "we have very carefully listened to the message" of this abstention. Changes in election laws in 1990 allowed citizens not to vote, while automatic voter inscription placed the number of registered voters this year at 13.4 million, EFE reported. The president was expected to partially reshuffle his cabinet before or around 11 November, as the media named two ministers as possible presidential hopefuls. By law, any minister wanting to run in the general elections of 17 November 2013 must leave office by 16 November this year if running for a legislative seat, or a little later if seeking the presidency, EFE reported.

Colombian leaders voice divisions at party congress

Colombia's present and last presidents made a public display of their differences on 28 October, alternately defending and attacking the latest round of peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Both justified their records and aspirations for Colombia as they addressed supporters in the conservative Partido de la U, gathered in Bogotá to elect new party directors. The former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez reiterated his criticisms of incipient peace talks and said the government seemed more interested in talking to "terrorism" than assuring Colombia's security. Uribe, who sought to defeat the FARC when president in 2002-10, told party members "the last two years have made many Colombians think that the Government has shown greater interest in talking to terrorism than in security," and alleged any strikes against FARC commanders under his successor Juan Manuel Santos seemed "more the fruit of of the Armed Forces' resolve" than government determination. He deplored that the government should seek to build "trust with terrorism" or they should now be deemed a warring party when "many countries" and "most Colombians" considered them terrorists, EFE reported. Santos was Uribe's defence minister in 2006-9, but the two have drifted apart for Uribe's opposition to a compromise with the FARC. Members of the Partido Social de la Unidad Nacional - the Unity or U party - have thus faced a dilemna in the discord between their leading personalities. Santos later defended talks as a continuation of Uribe's own policies. He said the previous government tried "the impossible" to talk to the FARC, chose possible locations for such conversations and asked Brazil to act as garantor. There were letters he said, setting out preconditions including an end to terrorism, the broadcaster RTVE reported on 29 October. He said "they were negotiating for five years and now they say, how are we talking to terrorism?" while "members of the previous government forget" he was pursuing its policies. He declared he had not come with "rancour" or "resentment," but to "build the future and talk about the future." He observed that professional political parties with discipline, debate and "internal democracy" were a key part of the democratization process. "I do not believe, let me be clear, in made-to-measure parties that become shorter or longer" to fit the needs of a "caudillo or the one currently in charge," RCN radio reported.

Prison staff jailed in Mexico after inmates' flight

Authorities jailed nine former employees of the Piedras Negras prison in northern Mexico after they were charged with aiding a mass flight of prisoners on 17 September, Proceso reported on 27 October. Over 130 prisoners, mostly presumed members of The Zetas drug cartel, reportedly either walked out of the prison that day or fled through a hole made in the carpentry workshop. Troops and police have caught some of them and killed others, but most seemed to be free and likely involved in numerous criminal incidents in northern Mexico in recent weeks. The Coahuila state prosecutor's office stated it might question other prison staff. Two men were separately shot dead in the northern state of Chihuahua on 28 October, one in the city of Chihuahua, the other in Meoqui further south, Proceso reported.

Mexican troops kill, detain suspected gangsters

Six were killed in drug-related violence in three states of Mexico on 26 October, while troops detained a "cell" from The Zetas cartel thought involved in at least 43 killings over a year. Two of the dead were suspected members of The Zetas cartel, shot by troops in the northern city of Monterrey. They were identified as a local boss dubbed El Tío and a presumed associate dubbed El Pollo (Chicken), and were shot as they opened fire when troops told them get out of their car, Proceso reported. Another "suspected criminal" was shot dead by soldiers in Xalapa, in the eastern state of Veracruz; troops also detained four presumed kidnappers and released a man held by them in José Azueta in Veracruz. Police separately presented on 26 October four detainees and suspected members of The Zetas including their head in the northern districts of Guadalupe and Benito Juárez, identified as Miguel Ángel Domínguez Montaño or Micky. He confessed he had taken part in seven executions and ordered dozens more. The four were arrested on 6 October while driving in Guadalupe, Proceso reported. The state prosecutor's office was reported to have ascertained in this time that the four had kidnapped and killed 35 presumed traffickers working with rival gangs, and killed eight kidnap victims for whom ransom had not been paid or who recognized their captors.