Overview of Recent News from Mexico

04/12/11
Erin Shea
Latin America and the Caribbean
Security, Violence

Entire Country

  • According to a report released by Mexico's human rights commission, CNDH, last weekend, 5,397 people have been reported missing in Mexico since the country’s president, Felipe Calderón, declared war on the drug cartels in late 2006. 3,457 of the missing are men and 1,885 are women. The remaining 55 cases are unknown. Days before the report was released, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances reported that it had received “several cases of forced disappearances allegedly carried out by Mexican soldiers.” The working group recommended that the Mexican government stop using the army to help fight the drug war.
  • Tens of thousands of Mexicans in over two dozen cities joined in on mass protests calling for an end to violence spurred on by Calderón’s drug war following the murder of Juan Francisco Sicilia, son of popular poet Javier Sicilia, and six others March 28 in Cuernavaca. Javier Sicilia has called for a cease-fire with the drug cartels, an idea Time’s Ioan Grillo examines in more detail here.

Baja California

  • TIJUANA: Two American citizens, Sergio Salcido Luna, 25, and Kevin Joel Romero, 28, were gunned down early last Monday morning at the San Ysidro Port of Entry while waiting to cross into San Diego. The two men were waiting in line in their truck when unknown assailants shot them. They lived just outside Tijuana and worked at a brewery equipment company in San Diego. The spokesman for the state attorney general’s office Raúl Gutiérrez said the killings are not believed to be tied to drug trafficking.

Chihuahua

  • CIUDAD JUÁREZ: Rights activists and relatives of four men missing since March 26 are questioning whether officers of new police chief Julian Leyzaola are to blame for the men’s disappearance. A statement was released over the weekend by the local government disputing the claims. Leyzaola was at the center of similar claims during his time as police chief in Tijuana from December of 2008 to November of 2010. Several officers charged in 2009 for aiding drug traffickers accused the retired army lieutenant colonel and his officers of torturing them.
  • CIUDAD JUÁREZ: Last weekend it was reported that 20 people had been killed in less than 24 hours in the Mexican border city. The victims were killed in three separate attacks, two of which took place in city bars and one that occurred at a food stand, in which a 10-year-old boy was among the victims.

Coahuila

  • 20 presumed members of the Zetas were arrested in Coahuila state, officials said last Sunday. The cartel members were arrested in army operations that took place between March 10 and 22 that recovered numerous weapons, 522,780 pesos, and $199,980.

Durango

  • SANTIAGO PAPASQUIARO: Three presumed members of criminal organizations were killed in a confrontation with the army in the municipality of Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango state, Proceso reported last Sunday. No arrests were made during the confrontation and several other members of the group escaped.

Guerrero

  • ACAPULCO: Five people were killed in Guerrero last Sunday in different attacks. Three of the victims were shot and two were mutilated, although El Universal does not mention possible suspects or motives for the attacks. The two mutilated victims were found inside an abandoned truck in Acapulco.
  • ACAPULCO: A two-hour shootout between police and gunmen in Acapulco left one police officer and two of the gunmen dead, according to reports last Monday. Four others were injured and seven alleged gang members were arrested during the gun battle, in which a movie theater, a supermarket and several shops burned down.

Jalisco

  • GUADALAJARA: In March alone, 120 people were killed in Jalisco state, Milenio reported last week. Of the victims, 109 were men and 11 were women and 82 of the victims were killed in shootings. Jalisco state has seen 296 people killed so far this year.

Morelos

  • Morelos’ state security chief, Gen. Gaston Menchaca Arias, was fired Sunday following the murders of seven young people in the state two weeks ago, including Juan Francisco Sicilia, the son of Javier Sicilia, a well-known Mexican journalist and poet. The killings led to protests nationwide. No arrests have been made yet in connection with the murders, but the public prosecutor’s office said it has identified suspects it believes committed the crime. Gen. Gilberto Toledano has been tapped to replace Gen. Gaston Menchaca Arias as Head of Public Security for the state.

Oaxaca

  • OAXACA: Luis Quiroz Quiroz, a teacher and ex candidate for the San Agustín Chayuco municipal presidency was shot and killed last Tuesday by unknown assailants.

Tamaulipas

  • SAN FERNANDO: Discoveries of mass graves filled with the bodies of victims of bus hijackings began last week and so far 88 victims have been found around San Fernando. A Tamaulipas official, Morelos Canseco Gomez, said reports of abductions from buses began two weeks ago and that it is “unclear why gangs were removing people from buses.”

     

    Amnesty International urged the Mexican government to investigate the killings in a statement released Thursday. In the statement Rupert Knox, a Mexico researcher at the organization, was quoted as saying “The mass graves found yesterday once again show the Mexican government’s failure to deal with the country’s public security crisis and reduce criminal violence which has left many populations vulnerable to attacks, abductions and killings.”

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea