Saturday, June 19, 2010

Recap of a murderous week

June 14 saw 2 firefights between a gang of narcos and the army in Los Aldama, Nuevo León, leaving 7 of the narcos dead and the liberation of a kidnap victim. Colima had 2 more killings and gunmen in the community of Carrizalillo, Guerrero, fired into a group of party-goers, killing one and wounding 3 others. In the municipality of Goméz Palació, Durango the municipal police fought with a gang who had kidnapped a police officer, leaving on police officer dead, José Luis Hernández. Chihuahua had another 10 executions including municipal police officer Jorge Alejandro Ortiz Rascón who was ambushed by gunmen.

June 15 was the recording breaking day for the War on Drugs in Mexico with 96 dead as compiled by one of Mexico's national newspapers, El Universal (www.eluniversal.com). To begin with, 29 prisoners were either beaten to death or shot in the Sinaloa State Penitentary in Mazatlán (Centro de Ejecuciones de las Cosecuencias Jurídicas del Delito de Mazatlán), with the majority of the victims believed to be part of the Zetas cartel. An unknown number of gunmen broke into the prison and hunted down those that they intended to kill, wounded 2 guards in the process as well as several other prisoners. Corruption, bribery, and lack of staff are all seen as contributing to this massacre. Gunmen assassinated the president of the Sinaloa Farmer's union, Enrique Mendívil Flores in Culiacán, as he was traveling in an armored SUV with 2 bodyguards.

The highest number of Federal Police were killed on this day as well, 15 dead including 12 who were ambushed in Zitácuaro, Michoacán by the La Familia cartel (as well as another 15 officers wounded). Chihuahua was where another 3 officers were ambushed and killed this day, this in addition to another 14 murders in Chihuahua as well as 17 in Nayarit and 5 others in Michoacán, 5 in the State of Mexico and 4 in Baja California.

June 16 had a gunfight between the military and a gang working for Édgar Valdéz Villarreal (La Barbie) in Taxco, Guerrero, leaving 15 gunmen dead. In Iguala, Guerrero 2 bullet-ridden bodies were discovered while Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas had a gunfight that left 5 gangsters dead as well as a soldier. Guillermo Vargas, a Federal Police officer and former coordinator for the State Police of Morelos was executed along with his son as was David Maldonado a police officer in Querétaro.

June 17 Juárez saw another attack on a drug addiction center, this time killing 6 recovering addicts (there was an attack September 2, 2009 which resulted in 17 murdered and June 10, 2010 with 19 murdered). In Apodaca, a municipality near Monterrey Nuevo León, 4 municipal police officers and one ex-police officer were kidnapped, tortured and executed by the Zetas, leaving the bodies in the street, one of which was decapitated. Two other police officers, in the municipality of Santiago, Nuevo León, were gunned down as they were patrolling in their police car. There were 7 other executions in Nuevo León on this deadly day as well as the head of Public Security of the municipality of Guadalupe Victoria, Durango, Isidro Aguilar Estrada, who was assassinated in his house. There were 2 more killings in Sonora, 3 in Sinaloa, another in Michoacán, one in Morelos and 2 more in the state of Mexico.

And, finally, to no great surprise, the National Commission for Human Rights (La Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos) stated that over 100 penitentiaries in Mexico are under the control of criminal gangs. This might explain the 8 different massacres that have occurred in the penitentiaries over the last 2 years that has left at least 162 dead and 123 wounded (as well as innumerable escapes one of which, in one instance, saw guards assisting 53 prisoners walk free).

June 18 saw another gunfight between the military and the cartels in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, that left one gangster dead. There were 8 dead reported in Durango, 4 in Sinaloa, 5 in Chihuahua, 2 each in Michoacán, Guerrero and Jalisco.

June 19 was another day of gunbattles between the military and narcos, near Tepic, the capital city of Nayarit, leaving one soldier dead and 4 narcos.

The count now is at 5234 for the year of 2010.


For a map of the killings: click: Narco-killings

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