ACAPULCO, GUERRERO, MEXICO – MAY 16, 2005 Video was recorded showing the interrogation and execution of a member of the drug cartel Los Zetas. The footage shows four captured men being interrogated by gunmen linked to Édgar Valdez Villarreal, known as “La Barbie.” One of the captives, Juan Miguel Vizcarra Cruz, is subsequently executed on camera.
According to later investigations, the four men were members of Los Zetas who had arrived in Acapulco with the task of tracking down and kidnapping members of the rival Sinaloa cartel, with Valdez Villarreal himself reportedly being one of their targets. However, the group was discovered, kidnapped, and handed over to members of the rival cartel.
Among those captured were Fernando Cruz Martínez, Sergio Alberto Ramón Escamilla, José Antonio Ramírez Pacheco, and Juan Miguel Vizcarra Cruz. During the interrogation, the men were forced to talk about their activities and the methods Los Zetas used to dispose of their victims’ bodies. Vizcarra was subsequently killed on camera.
The video’s release attracted considerable attention at the time. The case became one of the first widely known examples of so-called “narco videos,” which documented the violence of Mexican drug cartels.
