3. The Stew Maker
One of the most horrifying facts about Tijuana drug cartel violence: kidnappings and killings is Santiago Meza Lopez’s involvement with the cartel. In 2009, the police arrested Santiago Meza Lopez, a man who claims he worked for “El Teo” of Tijuana Cartel. He was nicknamed “El Pozolero” or the stew maker because his job was to dispose the bodies of the victims in metal drums filled with sodium hydroxide. The process of dissolving the bodies was compared to making a pozole, traditional Mexican stew. The authorities claim that he dissolved at least 300 bodies during his 9 year-long reign as El Teo’s stew maker. Families of hundreds of missing people protested and requested meetings with Santiago Meza Lopez, believing that he could give them the answers if their loved ones were amongst the bodies disposed by the cartel. You can read more on “El Pozolero” on this link. The place where he disposed the remains of the dissolved bodies was turned into a memorial, giving the families a dignified place where they could remember their loved ones.
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