Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Saturday, February 15, 2014

"Saltillo Mummies" Photo Wins Prestigious International Award

Chivis Martínez for Borderland Beat
Click to enlarge
Mexican photographer Christopher Vanegas won 3rd place in the “Contemporary Arts” category in the World Press Photo awards.   The prestigious WPP is considered one of the most renowned international photojournalistic awards that draws over 100,000 photo entries each year.
 
The photograph was taken in Saltillo, Coahuila in March, 2013.  A narco manta was left with the bodies signed by “Z40”, leader of Los Zetas cartel.   Shortly after the discovery, Z40 displayed another message denying the hangings were his responsibility. 
 
The haunting photograph, leaves viewers in the uncomfortable position of recognizing beauty derived from horrific brutally, yet because of it,  able to instantly recognize the photo and recall the story of the hangings. Indelibly  etched in ones mind.
 
Three of the victims:
Alejandro Tovar 16 years old mason
Carlos Eduardo Rodríguez Cedillo, 28,  automotive mechanic
Eusebio Hernández Estrada 38 years of taxi driver
According to investigation by the PGJE, Alejandro Tovar Band and Carlos Eduardo Rodríguez Cedillo, were kidnapped by a group of armed men on March 6th 2013 in the colony Lucio Blanco, in Saltillo the capital city of Coahuila.
 
Eusebio Hernández Estrada was seen alive for the last time on March 3rd     
The cause of death of the five victims was blunt force trauma

About Christopher Vanegas-Photojournalist, Mexico

Christopher Vanegas is a Mexican photographer born in Saltillo, Coahuila. He has worked as a producer and cameraman and has collaborated with Televisión Azteca and RCG Televisión (Mexico). He currently works as a photojournalist for the Mexican newspaper Vanguardia. (also Coahuila)
 
 

For more on the story and additional photos, refer to the video below.
 
 

31 comments:

  1. Oh if it won a prestigious award we"must"recognize the beauty of this haunting image,corpses wrapped up in nice white blankets,and the implications for the photographer.The most pretentious bullshit ever,almost on a par with the"art"world,where people pay 1/2 a million for an unmade bed.But we must have the intellectual capacity to recognize the inherent beauty,to see the artistry of the capture of the lens through which me must look.Oh man please...

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  2. I remember thinking the same thing when I saw the post on BB, feeling guilty because I did think the photography composition was beautifully done.

    From Saltillo, Coahuila!

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  3. Bet it was the federales or some sort of police types who did it...

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  4. Quite a few FB and blogs are running the story, even VX Michoacan but no one is adding details about the hangings, so thank you.

    the link has the other photos, some equally heartbreaking, especially the 1st place photo. you are correct these stories with outstanding photography, captures the story, they should stay with a person, and these do.

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  5. no where in the post did chivis say "must" so wtf you speaking of with your quotation marks on a word that doesn't exist? "leaving viewers in the uncomfortable position" is what was written. put the meth pipe down boy, you are being delusional and too angry.

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  6. while it is a beautiful exposition of life in mexico, i don't see the beauty in the photography, anybody could have taken it,it is all just there, and z40 was already in prison, so whoever did it is just putting it on him, also the zetas are not famous for so tenderly wrapping their victims in such nice clean blankets. the asepsia tells of somebody else, blaming z40 for it.
    please note i hate the zetas and their dirty deeds, their taking of territory without means to support it other than having their sicarios victimize the people was stupid, their greedy treacherous dropping of their own lesdership, is reaching the trickiest of themselves like lazca and the major judas,z40 himself, we'll see if he brings some big boss down with him before his ass is shipped to the US, before thirty years like caro quintero, whose's silence has been compensated at last.
    was the infiltration of the gulf cartel by "ex-military" elements planned by the military? they are never happy with their retirement plans, and as a matter of fact they are always trying to enhance their revenue,the gulf cartel's bosses show their incompetence when it came to chosing their bodyguards, the killing of z1, has never been examined to point blame on anyone, where were his bodyguards? z2 came down inexplicably too, surely z3 and z40 have their hands dirty with the blood of their own comrades, and the fall from grace of all the most dangerous former military zetas, including z3 points to the judas himsef z40, only el taliban, a laredo mexican streetwise saw z40 for the judas he was, fingering his comrades and stealing all the money from the organization, it was certainly better to help it all go to hell at any cost, good job taliban! better late than never...

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  7. Like a prestigious Artwork award. Yes, the photographer as well as all photographers whom document acts of horror should be commended for getting the word out. But the subject matter is not entertainment or comical.
    Give awards for photography of skeletal Jews in concentration camps or Jews hanging in Nazi gallows. Will the International community only laugh and giggle at little Mexicans hung like mummies? These things in Mexico will only get worse as people whom I have spoken to want to deviate from the subject and deny it even happens. Seriously , people do not want want to hear anything negative. 500 people in a mass graves 50 miles from the U.S.A. & They still don't give a damn or will not even air it on TV.

    Long live Justice and the Rule of Law Its not your grandfathers Mexico.

    Firmado y Sellado : Roughrider 1898

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  8. Taxi Driver, Mason , Auto Mechanic. what about the fourth mummy? Poor poor souls .

    Taxi Driver Travis Bickle last seen headed to Mexico in an old Checker Cab wearing nothing but a olive drab M65 field jacket , raybans , Mohawk and a smile .....
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aWqF7hfEIQ0/UbjxtAOmfdI/AAAAAAAAGqE/SrjyrA-9X2w/s1600/Taxi-Driver-2.jpg

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  9. It isn't the subject that has beauty, it is the photograph itself. An unappealing photograph will be forgotten. In Chivis' video above there is an example. Photographs taken at the prior hangings were not nearly the same quality as the photographs in the second hangings. and the difference is the beauty of the photography. the subject is identical. The second set including the winning photo journalisticly supports the story far better and that is one, if not most important contest protocal along with the composition itself.

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  10. We need auto defensa en couhila to stop all the crimes and stuff no one talks about in the news

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  11. This is disrespect for the dead mummies families..how would u like it if I had a dead pic of you and I won an award for the photo being so horrific.

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  12. I disagree, there is absolutely no beauty. The photograph captures but a moment in time when Mexico has moved down a slippery road towards death. This photograph oversteps boundaries on so many levels. Mexico deserves better and it starts with establishing boundaries!! Many of which were destroyed!

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  13. disagree all you want 11:14, you obviously don't get it, even after multiple explanations. IT IS NOT THE SUBJECT THAT HAS BEAUTY...the subject could be children playing soccer IT DOESN'T MATTER. What would you know about Mexico? I would want all the press I could get for my loved one, even graphic photographs , it is the reality, I would want the world to see what the evil has done to my loved one. Photographs stay in the mind, text doesn't. Think of Hitlers horror. Its the photographs you remember the most. grow up

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  14. By reading the post you are obviously drawn to it by your interest and support the use of graphic photos by being on a blog that clearly states it is about the Mexican Drug War and graphic photos are sometimes used.

    hypocrite

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  15. blackwater, the paramilitary mercenaries famous for creating problems all over the world that the US has to run to fix, putting other people's children on harm's way, the company that changed its name to Xe Services after being found guilty of some killings and murders, whose owner is very thight with the bush family, drug trafficking, and dick cheney among oter very famous crooks, is starting to get accused of stealing more than half of the 1.5 billion dollars supposedly given to mexico for the Mierda Accords to fight drug trafficking, Xe Services is getting accused of promoting disorder and destabilization all over latin-america and then coming up with solutions that never fail to involve them on all the money making schemes, ready to jump into venezuela for their oil again, guatemala, nicaragua, bolivia, ecuador etc, from their bases in colombia and mexico for the bananas and whatever, inthe name of "global" economic superpowers, not even in the name of the US, not happy with the exploitation they want ownership now and for nothing but empty promises.
    the american WEHRMACHT that polices the world for somebody else, and their war on drugs is increasingly being criticized for being a total failure and because the main beneficiaries, the banks that launder all the money, have never had any loses or any punishment, it was all an excuse to invade the latin-americas again, and it will not be funny for anybody...

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    Replies
    1. Stop playing Battlefield 4 and COD Ghost for a while!

      Delete
    2. And 8:48 your nothing but a sheep that believe in our governments lies! Stop listening to the media for a while and do some research for yourself

      Delete
  16. Lets slow down regarding " BlackWater " ...

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  17. For: no where in the post did chivis say "must" so wtf you speaking of with your quotation marks on a word that doesn't exist? "leaving viewers in the uncomfortable position" is what was written. put the meth pipe down boy, you are being delusional and too angry...

    LOL, I could say the same thing about you, slick... How do you know the person who wrote the comment smokes meth? your already judging the book by it;s cover.. LOL

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  18. This world is getting crazy, i wonder if you would poSt this stuff if Ur relative was one of them. .real paz chivis.

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  19. 2:06 Absolutely!! and I already answered that question. My brother was murdered and we wanted all the attention we could get to the case, including photos. From the publicity we/the police were able to get the info that led to his killer.

    What good does hiding facts bring? It will never help solve a case and get justice for a family. We were in court everyday, which means we were there when horrible photos were shown to the jury, including his autopsy. Our family was there, to let the killer know how much the man he murdered and dumped like trash, was loved.

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    Replies
    1. Chivis quien mato a tu hermano y en donde como se llama te lo garantizo si esta el culpable bajo plaza Z lo va pagar!

      Atte La Letra

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  20. 10:13 why slowdown re-garding blackwater? we need to accelerate the debunking of the now called Xe Services, of course they would love it if the knowledge about their shenanigans just up and went away, change names all they want, the cat is out of the bag, and they are a bunch of assholes, as are all the companies begging for government contracts,to privatize all government services, from schools to prisons, welfare for the rich is very in now...

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  21. Chivis there should be autodefensas in every state of mexico what do you think i mean in michoacan almost every week they leberated one town from organize crime

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  22. Should fotos be published? Absolutely. Should photographers get awards for these pics? No. I say no because the psychos who really composed that scene, so easily photographed, were "the artists". I don't think we want to make the psychos proud of their handiwork.

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  23. @12:00pm meth head, you may or may not be a one, but while the guy corrected you, you are trying to deflect and tip-toe around the issue that you made a mistake, just accept that you were wrong and explain that while biased, you are not a meth-head, the black teeth would expose you quick anyway

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  24. good to have a photo for evidence, maybe forensic scientists have something to say, specially regarding the kind of murderers that would do something like that, every crime scene has something to say...

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  25. "must" is being used as a way of asking if we should bow in reverence because of the awarded prize, not as if my beloved chivis is for anything other than making public the photo, which of course needs to be made public as all others that evidence what is going on in mexico. the poster has been left without anything else to say because of a little misunderstanding.
    BB could finance some quality editors with the farts its detractors and grammarian police post in this blog...blackwater and haliburton included.

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  26. Actually XE is called Academi, not sure how you missed that seeing as you know everything about them...?

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  27. 1:06 where i got my little info, they are called Xe services, new name of blackwater, and no, i don't know too much about them, much less everything, they will not talk or testify, not in congress, not in court and not to the press, much less to a cockroach like me, so we are stuck together here in BB trying to do our little part anonymously until we get ratted out...

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  28. academi is certainly the new name, still hellbent on obtaining government contracts, to guard the border, to set training bases on national parks' lands, to protect marihuana fields on them too, blackwater burned its good reputation when their dirty deeds were exposed, and Xe services did the same thing, academi is nothing but the same old shit, freshly stirred, and nothing good will come off it...

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