The terror of drug traffickers in Mexico has shown its teeth again this Thursday.
At least two women have died from a fire caused by Molotov cocktails in a convenience store in Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua, north of Mexico and bordering the United States.
In a multiple attack, according to the testimonies of the neighbors, the criminals have also burned and shot other businesses and gas stations and have burned a bus that transported employees of a factory, maquiladoras.
Also, around 8:30 p.m., another armed group killed four people outside a pizzeria, including a radio host, Alan González, and three companions, according to local press reports.
As night fell, almost all the convenience stores, the main target of the attacks, were lowering their curtains,
A neighbor tells EL PAÍS by phone.
Chaos has taken over part of the city a few hours after a riot took place in the state prison with three murdered inmates.
"I deeply regret the loss of human lives in this heinous event against Ciudad Juárez," Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said in a Twitter message.
”I condemn the violent acts that occurred this afternoon.
I reiterate my commitment to work to the best of my strength and capabilities to guarantee the well-being of Juarenses,” she added.
This has been the first official statement after six hours of attacks.
State authorities have not reported so far the connection between the multiple attacks that have caused panic in different parts of the city.
This newspaper has tried to contact the Chihuahua Prosecutor's Office to obtain more details about what happened, but has not received a response.
And each of the blows are known by the dropper, as isolated events.
The local press counts a dozen attacks with bullets, Molotov cocktails, fires and there are at least nine people killed.
The Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (UACJ) canceled classes this Thursday and will maintain virtual academic activities on Friday and Saturday.
Security forces outside one of the convenience stores that was attacked this Thursday, in Ciudad Juárez. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ (REUTERS)
According to the local press, it all started in jail.
Around 1:00 p.m. this Thursday, the Chihuahua Prosecutor's Office reported that it had managed to contain a "fight" inside the state prison between rival gangs.
The balance: three men murdered.
And a few hours later, videos of neighbors recorded with mobile alerted that a group of armed men had thrown Molotov cocktails and bullets at well-known local food chains, such as Rapiditos Bip-Bip, OXXO, CircleK or Del Río —owned by Alejandra de la Vega, one of the richest businesswomen in the state, also owner of the Los Bravos soccer team—.
Around 5:00 p.m., southeast of the city, in the Infonavit Juárez Nuevo neighborhood, in an OXXO chain store, two women were killed after an attack with Molotov cocktails that set the business on fire in a matter of seconds.
According to the information published by the Diario de Juárez, which cites the municipal authorities, the victims were an employee of the establishment and another young woman who had come to ask for work.
They also threw bombs at another OXXO branch located on Ejercito Nacional and Manuel Gómez Morín avenues, where the company's managers managed to escape safely.
In another similar establishment, belonging to the Circle K chain, four people were shot at by another group of armed men.
In the attack, a 15-year-old teenager was injured and taken to a hospital.
There was no attempted robbery, local authorities mention, in any of the cases.
Citizens react outside one of the stores that were burned, this Thursday. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ (REUTERS)
Later, another group of employees of a convenience store called Del Río, were attacked with blows and bullets.
A man was injured after the attack, local press reports.
They also threw Molotov cocktails at a gas station located at the intersection of San Antonio and Gómez Morín streets and their facilities were shot at.
In addition to the shops, the authorities reported a massacre at the doors of a Little Caesar's pizzeria, on Ejército Nacional and Rancho Mesteñas avenues in Pradera Dorada.
Four men were riddled with bullets, among them the announcer of the radio station Switch, Alan González, and two other clients of the premises were wounded by bullets.
The burning of a bus that transported the personnel of a factory, known in the north as a maquiladora, was also reported.
The passengers managed to descend before it was consumed by the flames.
Without an authority explaining what happened, the chaos that Juárez has experienced this Thursday has mixed with the macabre daily life of the violence that has besieged the border city for decades.
A severed head thrown on a piece of land was also found this Thursday afternoon, reports Diario de Juárez.
"It is the second cephalic extremity found in less than 24 hours," reports the newspaper.
And in another part of the city, in the Paraje de Oriente subdivision, a man was riddled with bullets while he was fleeing from his attackers.
"This is the 49th intentional homicide of the month of August," says the newspaper.
In Juárez, a city of a million and a half inhabitants, almost 5 people a day have been killed in this month alone.
In the videos that circulate on social networks, cars are seen stuck in traffic while gunshots sound in the background.
State and municipal police confronted some groups of criminals on Technological Avenue when the desperate drivers decided to get out of their vehicles and take cover from the lead behind the car bodywork.
A man hugs his children, who were inside the Social Reintegration Center number 3 visiting an imprisoned relative when the fight began. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ (REUTERS)
The multiple attacks that have put in check one of the symbolic capitals of the northern border, next to El Paso (Texas, United States), have occurred just a few days after in the center of the country, in municipalities of Jalisco and Guanajuato, organized crime groups burned cars, trucks and businesses, and also blocked several highways.
It was the drug trafficker's response to the attempt by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to arrest two alleged leaders of one of the most powerful drug cartels, the Jalisco New Generation, their nicknames: El Doble R and El Apá.
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