Another Entry in the Juárez Vocabulary of Death:

La Muerte de un Volteado

Man Found Executed, Dressed with a Red Dress and High Heels

Foto Diario de Juarez, Jan. 25 2019 (click here for story)

Diario de Juarez this morning (click here) has a picture of a man found murdered in an empty lot yesterday near the Avenida de las Torres.  He had on a red dress and high-heel shoes were ties to his feet.

Among the Signatures of Death in Juárez: (Not necessarily in chronological order of appearance):

There are encobijados:  people executed and then wrapped in a blanket, to be discovered.
Then there are encajuelados:  people executed and placed the the trunk of an automobile.  this led to the encobijado who was also encajuelado
Then there are calcinados, people who were doused with gasoline and then burned to death
Then there are torturados before execution
Then there are amputados, those executed and then amputated (hands, fingers, tongue, etc. suggesting motives for the killing (theft, betrayal, etc)
then there are entambados, those executed and placed in a trash barrel
Then there are estrangulados or asfixiados
Then there are enteipados, those executed and then head bandaged with duct tape
Then there are descapitados, 
Then there are atropellados, run over by a car.
Then there are colgados, people executed and then hung over a bridge, often with a narco-manta (banner)
Then there are decorados, people executed and "decorated" with a pig mask, pants pulled down, etc.

Now, recently, we have seen a new signature of death in Juárez:  feminizado, or volteado (?) I haven't yet heard a term used to describe this practice, of dressing an executed man in women's clothing, so this is only tentative.  According to the above story in Diario, this signature of death is known as the muerte de un volteado (death of a turncoat).   It is practiced by street gangs who execute a former member who has betrayed his fellow members by joining another gang.

Mexico is one of the most creative countries in the world, and Mexicans have long history of fascination with death.  One artist of the Mexican Revolution, Jose Guadalupe Posada (see below) captured this fascination; a more contemporary example are the calaveras catrinas.  My wife Olivia (from the Nevarez family of Las Cruces) has a collection of these.

From:  Alfalfa Studio (click here)

Jose Guadalupe Posada