Massacre in Mexico

The terrible discovery last Tuesday of 72 murder victims on a Mexican ranch near the U.S. border is further evidence that migrants are being horribly abused by criminals in Mexico.

The victims from Central and South America were headed to the United States when a drug gang pressed them to smuggle drugs. When the travelers refused, they were murdered.

The discovery and information were provided by a lone survivor of the violence, at the hands of the Zetas drug gang that dominates parts of the northern state of Tamaulipas.

Drug gangs are preying on migrants, who are being kidnapped, murdered and exploited as they travel through Mexico to the United States. Rights advocates charge the Mexican government bears blame for its "indifference" and "complicity."

Nearly 20,000 migrants are kidnapped each year, the National Human Rights Commission reported. Mauricio Farah of the commission wrote: "We are talking about the complicity of several authorities along the migrant route. Forty, 80, 100 migrants inside trucks or on the trains cannot pass unnoticed by the authorities ... on the contrary what happens is that they are in collusion with drug gangs."

The plight of tens of thousands Central American migrants crossing Mexico into the United States is desperate. In April, an Amnesty International report called it a major human rights crisis. The Mexican government needs to answer the charges.