At least 15 people died this Saturday in a series of violent attacks by criminal groups in the Mexican city of Reynosa, belonging to the state of Tamaulipas and bordering Texas.
The State Coordination Group for the Construction of Peace in Tamaulipas reported
14 murders in the colonies of Almaguer, Lampacitos, Unidad Obrera and Bienestar by armed individuals aboard vehicles
, and an additional death in an attack against police officers near the bridge border of Pharr.
The mayor of Reynosa, Maki Esther Ortiz Domínguez, published a tweet demanding that the attack be clarified and that citizens be protected.
After the incidents, the authorities notified the deployment of an unknown number of troops from the Army, the National Guard, the State Police and the Attorney General's Office of Tamaulipas for patrol, surveillance and investigation.
"Investigations began to establish the causes of the homicides and locate those responsible
, particularly in the surveillance and patrol actions that are carried out in various parts of Reynosa," said the last official report, at 5:00 pm (local time).
At the moment the identity of the victims and the attackers, as well as the motive for the attacks, is unknown.
There was a detainee in the operation, but the authorities have not clarified whether he is related to these crimes.
The state police guard the area where an armed commando murdered several people in the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas state, Mexico, on June 19, 2021. EFE / José Martínez
"As a result of the intervention of the State Police, a person was arrested who was carrying two women [kidnapped] in the trunk of a car and three trucks were secured as well as a long weapon," the report added.
These events occur in a context in which violence does not stop in Mexico, which had the two bloodiest years in its history in 2019, with 34,681 murders, and 2020 with 34,554.
Even so, the Secretariat (ministry) of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) has boasted
a 4% drop in the first four months of 2021
compared to the same period of the previous year.
The Tamaulipas border with the United States has been the scene of recent violent events.
In May, the national president of the government party Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena), Mario Delgado, denounced that an armed group detained him while he was going from Matamoros to Reynosa in the campaigns prior to the June 6 election.
And on January 22, 19 charred bodies were found in a truck in the town of Santa Anita, in the municipality of Camargo, of which 16 were Guatemalans.
With information from AP and EFE.