Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN

A former cartel hit man has told how he was forced to eat human flesh as part of his training in a bid to to desensitise him from the horrific acts he would later carry out.

The cartel hitman, identified as 34-year-old Francisco, was interviewed by TV channel Telemundo to discuss how he was manipulated into becoming a cartel member when he thought he was applying for a security guard job.

However, the man claims he was instead recruited by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal group based in the western Mexican state of Jalisco and reported to be active in 28 of the country’s 32 states.

Pictures Credit: CEN/Noticias Telemundo

During the interview, Francisco claimed that he was taught how to kill and was forced to eat human flesh to desensitise himself.

At the “terror school”, he said that he was shown how to use all kinds of weapons and dismember bodies so that they would never be found.

Francisco remarked: “You see how they kill people, you eat human flesh and you live the terror.”

The 34-year-old, who said that he has a young son, was approached by a man in a bar last year who offered to pay him cash for a lift.

After driving the stranger to his destination, the man withdrew cash from an ATM and took note of Francisco’s phone number, saying: “I am going to call you, I like you.”

At the time he did not know who the man was, but Francisco claims it was the son of suspected drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, alias El Mencho, who is believed to be the leader of the CJNG.

The man contacted Francisco and apparently offered him a job as a security guard in Villahermosa.

They agreed a weekly salary of 3,500 MXN (144 GBP) plus expenses and a four-week training period.

He was taken to Mexico City with 19 other men aged between 20 and 30 and booked into a hotel.

The group was soon told that they were not going to work as security guards, but instead join the CJNG and was left little choice about their options.

Francisco said that he thought about his young son and, along with the other men, they went to the organisation’s training camp where their belongings were taken and they were told to strip off their clothes.

He said: “We were doused with water and told to grab a car battery so any kind of GPS tracker under the skin would be frazzled. The shock was so strong that I urinated myself.”

Francisco also said that the group’s golden rule was “if there is not a body, there is not a punishable crime”.

He said that some of the trainees were told to cut the hand off a dead body, adding: “I had to do it, you have no choice.”

When the trainees hacked off different parts of the body, including the man’s head, they were forced to eat some of the flesh.

Francisco said: “There was one guy who could not stomach it and vomited, but he was forced to eat it again.”