Cartel cannibals! Mexican drug lords force new members to kill rivals and eat their HEARTS

 A drug cartel in Mexico is forcing new members into cannibalism and  started sharing videos of gang members feasting on the hearts of their enemies.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel took sickening footage of one of its members eating a rivals' heart straight from his mutilated chest in Zacatecas state last month.The CJNG gang has become one of the most dominant cartels in the country and operates in at least 35 states across Mexico and Puerto Rico.

It is led by by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera Cervantes and has started to incorporate cannibalism as part of its methods of intimidation.

The shocking public displays of aggression are used to threaten rival groups and show dominance, as part of an arsenal of techniques which include demonstrating new weapons and military technologies owned by the group.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel took sickening footage of one of its members eating a rivals' heart straight from his mutilated chest in Zacatecas state last month. Pictured: Two members of the group

Cannibalism became part of the Jalisco initiation in around 2015, with new recruits forced to eat raw human heart at the cartel's 'terror schools'. Pictured: A CJNG devours a heart in 2020

Disturbing images too graphic to publish show the gang member crouching over the body of the rival gangster from the Sinaloa cartel — formerly led by El Chapo.

The victim has had his arms tied and his chest appears to have been torn open. 

The CJNG member tears bites out of the man's heart before pretending to offer the lifeless figure a taste.

In the background, part of another dead body can be seen with the shadow of another Jalisco member hacking away at it. 

Dr Robert Bunker, a security analyst and expert on Mexican cartels, said the violent display was used to threaten the rival gang.

The CJNG gang has become one of the most dominant cartels in the country and operates in at least 35 states across Mexico and Puerto Rico

The shocking public displays of aggression are used to threaten rival groups and show dominance, as part of an arsenal of techniques which include demonstrating new weapons and military technologies owned by the group (pictured)

Mexican cartels now use IEDs as well as bomb-dropping drones 

In the war raging between drug cartels in western Mexico, gangs have begun using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on roads to disable army vehicles.

The self-defense movement in the town of Tepalcatepec, in western Michoacan state, said improvised land mines severely damaged an army armored car late last week.

A spokesman for the movement, which is battling the Jalisco cartel, supplied photos showing a disabled army light armored vehicle on a road with damage he said was caused by such a mine.

The spokesman, who refused to reveal his name for fear of reprisals, said the explosion happened last Saturday in the town of Taixtan, near Tepalcatepec, where locals have been battling Jalisco gunmen for months.

The warring gangs already frequently use homemade armored cars and drones modified to drop small bombs. But it would be the first time IEDs have been successfully used by cartels in Mexico.

The Mexican Army did not respond to a request for specific comment on the IEDs. But the Defense Department did say army patrols were attacked in the area Saturday four times with explosives, homemade armored cars and gunfire that wounded 10 soldiers. The department did not specify what type of explosives were involved.

He told the Daily Beast: 'Given its warning to other Mayo Zambada gunmen, the video has clearly been produced for PSYOPS purposes by the CJNG unit involved in the incident who then uploaded it to social media.' 

Cannibalism became part of the Jalisco initiation in around 2015, with new recruits forced to eat raw human heart at the cartel's 'terror schools'.

Speaking at the time, Alfredo Castillo, Michoacan's federal security commissioner, denied cannibalism was widespread.

But he admitted there were various testimonies indicating heart-eating was part of a macabre initiation Moreno used to root out moles or test his men's loyalty.

'The ritual ranged from dismembering people they intended to kill to sometimes serving up the heart,' Castillo said.

He did not elaborate on who provided the testimony and did not specify when and where the alleged initiation rituals took place.

CJNG recruits are taught combat techniques and how to use small arms at the camps, set up at secret locations across Zacatecas.

And within three to four months they are usually forced to eat human flesh as part of the training.

They are taught how to severe fingers and toes — the cartel's favoured torture technique for interrogating rival gangs.

Later through the training, they are made to eat the dismembered digits and if they pass that test, the recruits are moved on to larger body parts.

A former CJNG member told the Daily Beast: 'They are given a choice of one of those pieces to eat in front of the boss. 

'You have to do it without reacting or vomiting or you are beaten. If you didn’t want to [eat human flesh] they wouldn’t let you leave, they had you there.'

The harrowing training also involved forcing recuits to sleep next to dead bodies at night to desensitise them.

Recruits who break cartel rules — such as not revealing the terror school location — are brutally murdered in front of other prospective cartel members.

The vicious initiations instill a twisted sense of loyalty to the cartel, experts say, by breaking down recruits' sense of identity.