A massacre carried out in broad daylight by an armed commando killed 20 people, including notables, Wednesday, October 5 in Mexico, in a region disputed by drug traffickers.
The mayor of San Miguel Totolapan and his father - also a former mayor - are among the victims of this violent attack launched against the town hall of this locality located in the state of Guerrero (south).
This region is known both for its tourist beaches of the Pacific -Acapulco- and the violence of cartels fighting over poppy cultivation and narcotics exit routes.
Seven municipal police officers are among the victims, according to local media.
The facade of the town hall was riddled with large caliber bullet holes, according to images obtained by AFPTV.
18 to 20 dead
The prosecutor's office revised the human toll upwards on Thursday morning - from 18 to 20 dead - indicating that it did not yet have "
sufficient evidence to determine who is likely responsible
" for the attack.
Wednesday, around 1:40 p.m. (6:40 p.m. GMT), "
they arrived firing in bursts against the municipal palace
", testified a town hall secretary, Freddy Vasquez, who was in his office at the time of the events.
“
They broke into the palace.
The gunshots started
,” he continued when interviewed by AFPTV.
“
We thought it was rockets, but gradually we heard them closer and louder and then we realized that it was
“
There will be no impunity
,” promised the governor of the state of Guerrero, Evelyn Salgado.
"
A system has been put in place to track down and find the perpetrators of this attack
", who apparently all managed to flee, local authorities said.
The killing took place in the north of the state of Guerrero, in a landlocked area called "
Tierra caliente
", on the borders of two other entities affected by drug trafficking, Michoacan and the State of Mexico (the large outskirts of the capital ).
"
It's an area controlled for years by the Familia Michoacana
," Daniel Moreno, a journalist from this region, based in the capital, told AFP.
“
It is an area that produces poppies, which also has laboratories
,” adds the director of the information portal “
Animal politico
”, one of the main ones in the country.
The attack would be the work of a rival group, "
Los Tequileros
", which has been in retreat for a few years.
The “
Tequileros ”
threatened to return to San Miguel Totolapan, in messages that have circulated in recent days in the community, according to local press.
Breaking of the “
pax narca
”
This group would be the ally of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), the most powerful in Mexico.
The United States offers ten million dollars for the arrest of the boss of the CJNG, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes “
El Mencho
”.
Wednesday's attack marks "
the rupture of the + pax narca +
" between the rival gangs, explains journalist Daniel Moreno, who claims to have been able to speak with witnesses on the spot.
“
The concern is very great.
The civilian population is affected
”.
“
It is possible that the assassinations are the result of a rivalry between the Tequileros and the Michoacana Family for control of the municipality
,” confirms security specialist David Saucedo.
These groups are in league with the local authorities, according to Mr. Saucedo: “
We have a series of warlords, drug traffickers who control the area.
The parties, instead of fighting these structures, relied on them to win the elections
”.
This area is the scene
of “a quasi-civil war
”, believes a French documentary filmmaker who filmed in Guerrero, Ludovic Bonleux.
“
These armed groups sometimes act under the guise of community vigilantes or community police, often undercover or under the control of narcos
,” he adds.
This latest attack brings to 94 the number of mayors assassinated in Mexico since 2000, according to the consulting firm Etellekt.
Some 340,000 people have died violently in Mexico since the military deployed in 2006 to fight drug cartels.
The attack came a day after the approval by the Senate of a very controversial law allowing the army to participate in public security operations until 2028. The opposition denounces a will of the power to "
militarize
" the country.
SEE ALSO
- A journalist killed in Mexico after publishing an article on missing students
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