Mexican massacre investigator found dead
Body of official dumped beside road near scene of killing of 72 Central and South American migrants in Tamaulipas
Glossary
Narco-speak
Students of the Spanish language and Mexican culture alike can add a new module to their classes: narco-speak. Mexico’s drugs cartels and the chilling violence they have inflicted on the country, have spawned a new lexicon to describe objects and activities that were barely known in the country just a couple of decades ago.
Cuerno de chivo
Before the rise of the cartels, the term “cuerno de chivo” used to mean just that: a goat’s horn. Today, only the most isolated from current affairs and popular culture would confuse it with anything other than an AK-47 assault rifle. The nickname comes from the weapon’s distinctively curved ammunition clip.
Levantón
In more peaceful times, the word “levantón” usually meant a round-up of suspects by police or other security forces. Today, it means only one thing: kidnapping of one or more rival gang members with the express intention of torturing and then killing them.
Manta
More often than not, a “manta” in Spanish was something your grandmother might have made to cover your bed. Nowadays, it is a scrawled message or warning – sometimes in blood and often pinned to a dead body – from one armed group to another.
Plaza
Remember the “plaza”, that sunlit square
complete with bubbling fountain in the middle that forms any self-respecting image of a Mexican town? Today, it means a local territory for dealing drugs.
Dar piso
The literal translation of “dar piso” is to “give floor” (to something). Today it means to kill someone or to “take them out”.
Narco-
Perhaps the most flexible term in the new vocabulary is the prefix “narco”.
Try “narcocandidato”, the term for describing a corrupt politician. Or “narcofiesta”, a party of rabble-rousing music, pretty girls and plenty of white cowboy hats held by and for drug traffickers. Then there is the somewhat older term “narcocorrido”, a ballad whose lyrics are specifically about mafia culture.
Two car bombs explode in northern Mexico; no casualties
