Mexican police discover mass grave containing 166 human skulls thought to be linked to cartel wars
Dozens of victims discovered in pits amid widespread cartel violence in Veracruz state
Mass graves containing the remains of at least 166 people have been uncovered in a region of Mexico plagued by cartel violence.
State prosecutors in Veracruz said on Thursday that dozens of skulls had been found in a cluster of 32 smaller pits following an anonymous tip last month.
Situated on Mexico’s eastern coast, the region has seen widespread violent crime in recent years due to its use as a pathway for drug gangs transporting narcotics northwards to the US border.
Veracruz attorney general, Jorge Winckler, told a press conference that the bodies had probably been buried for at least two years.
“Aside from human remains, we have found more than 200 items of clothing, 114 pieces of identification, as well as different accessories and personal items,” he said.
He refused to reveal the precise location of the graves, citing fears for the safety of investigators still working at the site.
Lawlessness in Veracruz spiked under former governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa, a member of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party who governed the state until 2016.
Mr Duarte is currently being held in prison, awaiting trial on allegations of involvement with organised crime and siphoning off millions of dollars during his tenure. He denies any wrongdoing.
Mr Winckler called on citizens with family members who had vanished to come forward for DNA tests in the hope of shedding light on the identity of those dumped in the graves.
The discovery is not the first of its kind in Veracruz in recent years – an unmarked mass grave containing the skulls of more than 250 people was found in the state in March 2017.
World news in pictures
Show all 50
World news in pictures
1/50 8 March 2019
Algerian protesters demonstrate against their ailing president's bid for a fifth term in power, in Algiers
AFP/Getty
2/50 7 March 2019
French gendarmes arrive for evacuation as prison guards block the entrance to the penitentiary center of Alencon, in Conde-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France, two days after a prison inmate seriously wounded two guards in a knife attack before being detained in a police raid. - The prison of Alencon / Conde-sur-Sarthe, where two guards were seriously stabbed on March 5 by a radicalized detainee, was blocked again on March 7 by about a hundred prison guards.
AFP/Getty
3/50 6 March 2019
Hindu devotees participate in a traditional activity known locally as "Perang Api" or fire war one day ahead of Nyepi in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Devotees in Indonesia will celebrate Nyepi day or the "Day of Silence" on March 7, the first day of the Saka Lunar calendar
AFP/Getty
4/50 5 March 2019
Time exposure photo shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara seen from Stearns Wharf in the city's harbor. The storm soaked California and could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned
Santa Barbara County Fire Department/AP
5/50 4 March 2019
Members of Unidos da Tijuca samba school perform during the first night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome
AFP/Getty
6/50 3 March 2019
The SpaceX team in Hawthorne watches as the SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the International Space Station's Harmony module. SpaceX's new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day
Nasa/AP
7/50 2 March 2019
US Senator Bernie Sanders (centre) waves to supporters at a rally to kick off his 2020 US presidential campaign, in the Brooklyn borough of New York
AFP/Getty
8/50 1 March 2019
Destroyed and deserted buildings are seen at the scene of ongoing fighting between Somali soldiers and al-Shabab fighters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somali security forces have been exchanging gunfire with gunmen holed up in a building since previous night when a suicide car bomb exploded nearby
EPA
9/50 28 February 2019
Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian national flag during an anti-India protest in Peshawar on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to "stand as a wall" with anger boiling over Pakistan's capture of a pilot as a crisis escalates between the nuclear-armed rivals. In his first remarks since India and Pakistan both claimed to have shot down each other's fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, the prime minister urged his countrymen to unite "as the enemy seeks to destabilise India
AFP/Getty
10/50 27 February 2019
US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi
AFP/Getty
11/50 26 February 2019
An Indian paramilitary solider fires tear gas shell towards Kashmiri protesters in Srinagar. They were protesting against raids on key separatist leaders by Indian intelligence officers
AP
12/50 25 February 2019
US President Donald Trump speaks at the 2019 White House Business Session with Our Nation's Governors in the State Dining Room. Trump spoke about the Chinese trade deal, the proposed border wall, and his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un
EPA
13/50 24 February 2019
Rami Malek (left) winner of Best Actor in a Leading Role award for 'Bohemian Rhapsody, Olivia Colman (second left) winner of Best Actress for 'The Favourite,' Mahershala Ali (right) winner of Best Supporting Actor for 'Green Book,' and Regina King (second right) winner of Best Supporting Actress for 'If Beale Street Could Talk,' pose during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood
EPA
14/50 23 February 2019
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather to take part in a rally in Caracas, Venezuela braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the Colombian border on Saturday, when self-declared acting president Juan Guaido has vowed humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade
AFP/Getty
15/50 22 February 2019
A worker walks amongst piles of rubbish at a garbage dump in Blang Bintang, near Banda Aceh
AFP/Getty
16/50 21 February 2019
Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Dhaka. At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said
AFP/Getty
17/50 20 February 2019
Children ride in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in Baghouz, eastern Syria. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces recapture of the territory
AP
18/50 19 February 2019
Bangladeshi Muslim devotees leave by train after taking part in the Akheri Munajat, or final prayers, at the Biswa Ijtema in Tongi. Several million Muslim devotees from around the world join the four-day long event that ends with a special prayer on the final day
AFP/Getty
19/50 18 February 2019
Flames and smoke billows from a residential building where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants.
AP
20/50 17 February 2019
People walk down the Champs-Elysees avenue on February protest, called by the yellow vest (gilets jaunes) movement, against French President's policies and top-down style of governing, high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
21/50 16 February 2019
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) assault's overall commander Jia Furat (C) answers the press near the Omar oil field in the eastern Syrian Deir Ezzor province. Kurdish-led forces said they were holding up the announcement of final victory over the Islamic State group for "a few days" because the large number of civilians remaining on the battlefield had forced a delay.
AFP/Getty
22/50 15 February 2019
Demonstrators overturn a car during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in south Kashmir on Thursday, in Jammu
Reuters
23/50 14 February 2019
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama reacts as ink is thrown at him by members of the opposition during parliamentary session in Tirana
Reuters
24/50 13 February 2019
A man cleans a car from snow during a snowfall in Moscow, Russia
Reuters
25/50 12 February 2019
A general view shows the Hotel Arpit Palace after a fire broke out on its premises in New Delhi. At least 17 people died on February 12 as a fire tore through the budget hotel in Delhi before dawn, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.
AFP/Getty
26/50 11 February 2019
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of India's main opposition Congress party and sister of the party president Rahul Gandhi, greets her supporters from atop a vehicle during a roadshow in Lucknow, India,
Reuters
27/50 10 February 2019
Female artists dominated the Grammys with Alicia Keys opening the show up by inviting her “sisters” Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama and Jada Pinkett Smith onto the stage. “Every voice we hear deserves to be honoured and respected,” said Pinkett Smith. “Tonight we celebrate the greatest in each other, through all of us, through music,” added Alicia Keys. “Who runs the world?” The most notable female triumph was Cardi B’s. The only woman in her category, competing against Nipsey Hussle, Pusha T, Travis Scott and Mac Miller, Cardi won Best Rap Album for her playfully inventive debut Invasion of Privacy. This made her the first female solo artist in history to win in the category
Reuters
28/50 9 February 2019
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren arrives to announce her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at Everett Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts
EPA
29/50 8 February 2019
Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich (C-L) submits the election registration form to an officer at the Election Commission in Bangkok, Thailand. A political party linked with Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Raksa Chart Party nominated Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as prime minister candidate for the upcoming general election. Thailand is set to hold a general election on 24 March 2019, the first poll in five years since the May 2014 military coup.
EPA
30/50 7 February 2019
Technicians set up material and work on the western section of the remains of the Morandi bridge in Genoa on the eve of the official start of the demolition work
AFP/Getty
31/50 6 February 2019
Rescue workers and people try to remove debris of an eight-story building which collapsed in Istanbul which killed at least one person and trapped several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said
AP
32/50 5 February 2019
For many President Trump's State of the Union address was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as "sarcastic"
AFP/Getty
33/50 4 February 2019
Thousands of Hindu devotees take dips at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers the Yamuna, the Ganges and the mythical Saraswati, on Mauni Amavsya or the new moon day, the most auspicious day during the Kumbh Mela or the Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at Sangam that dates back to at least medieval times. Pilgrims bathe in the river believing it cleanses them of their sins and ends their process of reincarnation. The event, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible human heritage in 2017, is the largest congregation of pilgrims on earth. Some 150 million people are expected to attend this year's Kumbh, which runs through early March
AP
34/50 3 February 2019
Tom Brady celebrates after New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
USA TODAY Sports
35/50 2 February 2019
Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela
Reuters
36/50 1 February 2019
Palestinians perform Friday prayers as smoke rises from burning tires during a protest against Jewish settlements, in al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
AFP/Getty
37/50 31 January 2019
Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago, US. Businesses and schools have closed, Amtrak has suspended service into the city, more than a thousand flights have been cancelled and mail delivery has been suspended as the city copes with record-setting low temperatures
Getty
38/50 30 January 2019
Man moves luggage in snow during a winter storm in Buffalo, New York
Reuters
39/50 29 January 2019
Firemen try to extinguish burning cars at the scene where a car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia
Reuters
40/50 28 January 2019
A tornado and pounding rains smashed into the eastern part of Cuba's capital overnight, toppling trees, bending power poles and flinging shards of metal roofing through the air as the storm cut a path of destruction across eastern Havana
AP
41/50 27 January 2019
Policemen and soldiers keep watch as body bags (in white), containing the remains of blast victims, as seen in a cordoned area outside a church in Jolo, Sulu province on the southern island of Mindanao. At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region
AFP/Getty
42/50 26 January 2019
Aerial view showing firemen looking for people in heavy machinery (L and R) and a locomotive (C) after the collapse of a dam which belonged to Brazil's giant mining company Vale, near the town of Brumadinho in southeastern Brazil
AFP/Getty
43/50 25 January 2019
Indian police personnel block unemployed Indian teachers, as they march towards the residence of Punjab Education Minister Om Parkash Soni during a protest against the Punjab state government to demand jobs in Amritsar
AFP/Getty
44/50 24 January 2019
Supporters of newly elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi cheer as they arrive to attend his Presidential Inauguration in Kinshasa. Tshisekedi took the oath of office before receiving the national flag and a copy of the constitution from outgoing president Joseph Kabila, stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country, marking the country's first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections
AFP/Getty
45/50 23 January 2019
Demonstrators hold a huge banner reading 'Madrid's taxi demands that the law has to be enforced' as drivers protest outside IFEMA Convention and Congress Center, against the regulation of ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify
EPA
46/50 22 January 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after signing a French-German friendship treaty in the town hall of Aachen, western Germany. France and Germany signed a new friendship treaty seeking to boost an alliance at the heart of the European Union as Britain bows out and nationalism advances around the continent
AFP/Getty
47/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
48/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great's conquests
AFP/Getty
49/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
50/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
1/50 8 March 2019
Algerian protesters demonstrate against their ailing president's bid for a fifth term in power, in Algiers
AFP/Getty
2/50 7 March 2019
French gendarmes arrive for evacuation as prison guards block the entrance to the penitentiary center of Alencon, in Conde-sur-Sarthe, northwestern France, two days after a prison inmate seriously wounded two guards in a knife attack before being detained in a police raid. - The prison of Alencon / Conde-sur-Sarthe, where two guards were seriously stabbed on March 5 by a radicalized detainee, was blocked again on March 7 by about a hundred prison guards.
AFP/Getty
3/50 6 March 2019
Hindu devotees participate in a traditional activity known locally as "Perang Api" or fire war one day ahead of Nyepi in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. Devotees in Indonesia will celebrate Nyepi day or the "Day of Silence" on March 7, the first day of the Saka Lunar calendar
AFP/Getty
4/50 5 March 2019
Time exposure photo shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara seen from Stearns Wharf in the city's harbor. The storm soaked California and could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned
Santa Barbara County Fire Department/AP
5/50 4 March 2019
Members of Unidos da Tijuca samba school perform during the first night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome
AFP/Getty
6/50 3 March 2019
The SpaceX team in Hawthorne watches as the SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the International Space Station's Harmony module. SpaceX's new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, acing its second milestone in just over a day
Nasa/AP
7/50 2 March 2019
US Senator Bernie Sanders (centre) waves to supporters at a rally to kick off his 2020 US presidential campaign, in the Brooklyn borough of New York
AFP/Getty
8/50 1 March 2019
Destroyed and deserted buildings are seen at the scene of ongoing fighting between Somali soldiers and al-Shabab fighters in Mogadishu, Somalia. Somali security forces have been exchanging gunfire with gunmen holed up in a building since previous night when a suicide car bomb exploded nearby
EPA
9/50 28 February 2019
Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian national flag during an anti-India protest in Peshawar on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Indians to "stand as a wall" with anger boiling over Pakistan's capture of a pilot as a crisis escalates between the nuclear-armed rivals. In his first remarks since India and Pakistan both claimed to have shot down each other's fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, the prime minister urged his countrymen to unite "as the enemy seeks to destabilise India
AFP/Getty
10/50 27 February 2019
US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un following a meeting at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi
AFP/Getty
11/50 26 February 2019
An Indian paramilitary solider fires tear gas shell towards Kashmiri protesters in Srinagar. They were protesting against raids on key separatist leaders by Indian intelligence officers
AP
12/50 25 February 2019
US President Donald Trump speaks at the 2019 White House Business Session with Our Nation's Governors in the State Dining Room. Trump spoke about the Chinese trade deal, the proposed border wall, and his upcoming summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un
EPA
13/50 24 February 2019
Rami Malek (left) winner of Best Actor in a Leading Role award for 'Bohemian Rhapsody, Olivia Colman (second left) winner of Best Actress for 'The Favourite,' Mahershala Ali (right) winner of Best Supporting Actor for 'Green Book,' and Regina King (second right) winner of Best Supporting Actress for 'If Beale Street Could Talk,' pose during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood
EPA
14/50 23 February 2019
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gather to take part in a rally in Caracas, Venezuela braced for a showdown between the military and regime opponents at the Colombian border on Saturday, when self-declared acting president Juan Guaido has vowed humanitarian aid would enter his country despite a blockade
AFP/Getty
15/50 22 February 2019
A worker walks amongst piles of rubbish at a garbage dump in Blang Bintang, near Banda Aceh
AFP/Getty
16/50 21 February 2019
Firefighters at the scene of a fire in Dhaka. At least 69 people have died in a huge blaze that tore through apartment buildings also used as chemical warehouses in an old part of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, fire officials said
AFP/Getty
17/50 20 February 2019
Children ride in the back of a truck that is part of a convoy evacuating hundreds out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in Baghouz, eastern Syria. The evacuation signals the end of a week long standoff and opens the way to US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces recapture of the territory
AP
18/50 19 February 2019
Bangladeshi Muslim devotees leave by train after taking part in the Akheri Munajat, or final prayers, at the Biswa Ijtema in Tongi. Several million Muslim devotees from around the world join the four-day long event that ends with a special prayer on the final day
AFP/Getty
19/50 18 February 2019
Flames and smoke billows from a residential building where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. Tensions continued to rise in the aftermath of a suicide attack in disputed Kashmir, with seven people killed Monday in a gunbattle that broke out as Indian soldiers scoured the area for militants.
AP
20/50 17 February 2019
People walk down the Champs-Elysees avenue on February protest, called by the yellow vest (gilets jaunes) movement, against French President's policies and top-down style of governing, high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
21/50 16 February 2019
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) assault's overall commander Jia Furat (C) answers the press near the Omar oil field in the eastern Syrian Deir Ezzor province. Kurdish-led forces said they were holding up the announcement of final victory over the Islamic State group for "a few days" because the large number of civilians remaining on the battlefield had forced a delay.
AFP/Getty
22/50 15 February 2019
Demonstrators overturn a car during a protest against the attack on a bus that killed 44 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in south Kashmir on Thursday, in Jammu
Reuters
23/50 14 February 2019
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama reacts as ink is thrown at him by members of the opposition during parliamentary session in Tirana
Reuters
24/50 13 February 2019
A man cleans a car from snow during a snowfall in Moscow, Russia
Reuters
25/50 12 February 2019
A general view shows the Hotel Arpit Palace after a fire broke out on its premises in New Delhi. At least 17 people died on February 12 as a fire tore through the budget hotel in Delhi before dawn, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India.
AFP/Getty
26/50 11 February 2019
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of India's main opposition Congress party and sister of the party president Rahul Gandhi, greets her supporters from atop a vehicle during a roadshow in Lucknow, India,
Reuters
27/50 10 February 2019
Female artists dominated the Grammys with Alicia Keys opening the show up by inviting her “sisters” Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Michelle Obama and Jada Pinkett Smith onto the stage. “Every voice we hear deserves to be honoured and respected,” said Pinkett Smith. “Tonight we celebrate the greatest in each other, through all of us, through music,” added Alicia Keys. “Who runs the world?” The most notable female triumph was Cardi B’s. The only woman in her category, competing against Nipsey Hussle, Pusha T, Travis Scott and Mac Miller, Cardi won Best Rap Album for her playfully inventive debut Invasion of Privacy. This made her the first female solo artist in history to win in the category
Reuters
28/50 9 February 2019
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren arrives to announce her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at Everett Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts
EPA
29/50 8 February 2019
Thai Raksa Chart Party leader Preechapol Pongpanich (C-L) submits the election registration form to an officer at the Election Commission in Bangkok, Thailand. A political party linked with Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Raksa Chart Party nominated Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, elder sister of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as prime minister candidate for the upcoming general election. Thailand is set to hold a general election on 24 March 2019, the first poll in five years since the May 2014 military coup.
EPA
30/50 7 February 2019
Technicians set up material and work on the western section of the remains of the Morandi bridge in Genoa on the eve of the official start of the demolition work
AFP/Getty
31/50 6 February 2019
Rescue workers and people try to remove debris of an eight-story building which collapsed in Istanbul which killed at least one person and trapped several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said
AP
32/50 5 February 2019
For many President Trump's State of the Union address was overshadowed by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's applause after his call for political unity, which many interpreted as "sarcastic"
AFP/Getty
33/50 4 February 2019
Thousands of Hindu devotees take dips at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers the Yamuna, the Ganges and the mythical Saraswati, on Mauni Amavsya or the new moon day, the most auspicious day during the Kumbh Mela or the Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at Sangam that dates back to at least medieval times. Pilgrims bathe in the river believing it cleanses them of their sins and ends their process of reincarnation. The event, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible human heritage in 2017, is the largest congregation of pilgrims on earth. Some 150 million people are expected to attend this year's Kumbh, which runs through early March
AP
34/50 3 February 2019
Tom Brady celebrates after New England Patriots won Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
USA TODAY Sports
35/50 2 February 2019
Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido waves to supporters during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela
Reuters
36/50 1 February 2019
Palestinians perform Friday prayers as smoke rises from burning tires during a protest against Jewish settlements, in al-Mughayyir village near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
AFP/Getty
37/50 31 January 2019
Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago, US. Businesses and schools have closed, Amtrak has suspended service into the city, more than a thousand flights have been cancelled and mail delivery has been suspended as the city copes with record-setting low temperatures
Getty
38/50 30 January 2019
Man moves luggage in snow during a winter storm in Buffalo, New York
Reuters
39/50 29 January 2019
Firemen try to extinguish burning cars at the scene where a car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia
Reuters
40/50 28 January 2019
A tornado and pounding rains smashed into the eastern part of Cuba's capital overnight, toppling trees, bending power poles and flinging shards of metal roofing through the air as the storm cut a path of destruction across eastern Havana
AP
41/50 27 January 2019
Policemen and soldiers keep watch as body bags (in white), containing the remains of blast victims, as seen in a cordoned area outside a church in Jolo, Sulu province on the southern island of Mindanao. At least 18 people were killed when two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, days after voters backed the creation of a new Muslim autonomous region
AFP/Getty
42/50 26 January 2019
Aerial view showing firemen looking for people in heavy machinery (L and R) and a locomotive (C) after the collapse of a dam which belonged to Brazil's giant mining company Vale, near the town of Brumadinho in southeastern Brazil
AFP/Getty
43/50 25 January 2019
Indian police personnel block unemployed Indian teachers, as they march towards the residence of Punjab Education Minister Om Parkash Soni during a protest against the Punjab state government to demand jobs in Amritsar
AFP/Getty
44/50 24 January 2019
Supporters of newly elected President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi cheer as they arrive to attend his Presidential Inauguration in Kinshasa. Tshisekedi took the oath of office before receiving the national flag and a copy of the constitution from outgoing president Joseph Kabila, stepping aside after 18 years at the helm of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest country, marking the country's first-ever peaceful handover of power after chaotic and bitterly-disputed elections
AFP/Getty
45/50 23 January 2019
Demonstrators hold a huge banner reading 'Madrid's taxi demands that the law has to be enforced' as drivers protest outside IFEMA Convention and Congress Center, against the regulation of ride-hailing and car-sharing services such as Uber and Cabify
EPA
46/50 22 January 2019
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after signing a French-German friendship treaty in the town hall of Aachen, western Germany. France and Germany signed a new friendship treaty seeking to boost an alliance at the heart of the European Union as Britain bows out and nationalism advances around the continent
AFP/Getty
47/50 21 January 2019
Target of a suicide bombing claimed by Isis, a military vehicle from a US-Kurdish convoy burns at the roadside in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province. Five people were killed and two US soldiers injured
AFP/Getty
48/50 20 January 2019
Protesters take part in a demonstration near the Greek Parliament against the agreement with Skopje to rename neighbouring country Macedonia as the Republic of North Macedonia, in Athens. The proposal faces resistance in Greece because of what critics see as the implied claims to Greek land and cultural heritage. For most Greeks, Macedonia is the name of their history-rich northern province made famous by Alexander the Great's conquests
AFP/Getty
49/50 19 January 2019
A man, injured during clashes with French police, is given help during a demonstration in Paris, called by the yellow vests (gilets jaunes) movement in a row of nationwide protest for the tenth consecutive Saturday against high cost of living, government tax reforms and for more "social and economic justice."
AFP/Getty
50/50 18 January 2019
Palestinian women from the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, scuffle with Israeli soldiers as they try to release a boy from their custody, during clashes following a weekly demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian lands by Israel
AFP/Getty
There were more than 30,000 murders across Mexico in 2017, the highest in a single calendar year since 1997.
Authorities have attributed the spike in violence to a splintering of cartels into smaller, more blood-thirsty groups following a decade-long, military-led campaign to battle organised crime.
More than 37,000 people are also currently unaccounted for across the country, according to Mexico’s national register of missing people.
However, the real figure could be much higher, with many people hesitant to report their loved ones missing out of fear of the cartels or believing police will ever investigate the case.
Additional reporting by Reuters
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
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