Violence in Mexico Share This /

Here’s a rundown of news from Mexico this week:

• Members of the military clashed with suspected cartel members in Jacona Thursday night, leaving two people dead. Authorities are unsure to which criminal organization the two dead belonged, according to an article in the Mexican paper, El Universal.
• Jesus Quirarte Ruvalcaba, the head of a Mexican state police department that targets car thieves, and his wife, Maria Guadalupe Aldrete Rosales, were killed Thursday morning on their way to work by gunmen who attacked their state-owned vehicle. The two were killed in Zapopan, a city just outside of Guadalajara in central Mexico. About 100 casings were found at the scene.
• Luis Humberto Peralta Hernandez, alias “The Condor”, a high-ranking figure in the Juarez cartel, was shot and killed during a gun battle with police in Chihuahua on Tuesday. His death was only made public on Thursday because he had been carrying a fake ID, which delayed his identification, according to officials. Peralta was believed to be involved in almost 100 murders while a member of the deadly Juarez cartel. Three other alleged members of the cartel were arrested during the gun battle.
• EFE is reporting that cartel members have been prohibiting private paramedics in Ciudad Juarez from taking gunshot victims across the border to El Paso for treatment since last year. The paramedics have been receiving the death threats through the Life 1 radio frequency, which is used by first responders.

  Gunshot victims in Cuidad Juarez frequently request to be taken to El Paso for treatment for security reasons, because, according to the EFE article, “Gunmen have sometimes chased ambulances or entered hospitals in Juarez to finish off people who survived shootings.” It is estimated that five people sustain gunshot wounds in the beleaguered border city each day.

• It was announced Wednesday that Mexican president Felipe Calderón will meet with Obama in Washington on March 3, amid tension over U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks that criticized the Mexican government in its fight against the drug cartels. The meeting has been in the works for weeks, according to Calderón’s office, and no particular incident spurred the meeting. Abigail Poe summarized the WikiLeaks controversy on our blog.
• Police in Mexico detained six members of the Zetas cartel on Wednesday, who they believe are linked to the killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata. The men were found during an army raid on gang safehouses in San Luis Potosi. The main suspect, Julian Zapata Espinoza, alias "El Piolin," told army officials that they thought the vehicle belonged to members of a rival gang and that the U.S. agent was not the intended target of the attack.
• Acapulco faced a wave of violence while hosting the Mexican Open tennis tournament this week which left at least 13 people dead. According to the AFP, seven people died and five vehicles were burned Friday during confrontations between gang members, four people died and two were hurt during a shootout on Saturday, and two people were found dead on Sunday, along with five burned vehicles. The latest of those victims were two men and a woman found dead in the trunk of a stolen taxi Tuesday night. Officials said one of the men was decapitated.
• On Saturday in Reynosa, President Felipe Calderón announced that four battalions of Mexican soldiers would be sent to Mexico’s northern border to fight the increasing drug violence in the area.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea