DRUG-related violence in Mexico has claimed 43 lives in one day, including 12 police officers killed in an ambush and 28 inmates slain in prison clashes between rival gangs.
The early morning ambush took place yesterday in the western town of Zitacuaro as a column of uniformed police was heading by car to Mexico City. Ten police officers and several assailants were killed in the shootout, and two more officers died later in hospital, Michoacan’s Public Security Ministry said.
After the attack, soldiers and police launched a manhunt for the surviving attackers, who remain at large, the ministry said.
Police said the attackers removed their dead and wounded from the scene before fleeing. They did not link the shooting to any drug cartel in the region.
However, Michoacan is the headquarters for the notorious “La Familia” cartel, known as one of Mexico’s deadliest drug-trafficking organisations, which has a history of violent confrontations with the federal police.
“La Familia,” which is said to be the top producer of synthetic drugs in Mexico, unleashed a similar bloody assault against police last July that led to the deaths of 16 officers.
In another recent attack, the drug cartel kidnapped 12 federal police officers, decapitated them and dumped their bodies on a busy highway.
In the northwestern city of Mazatlan, meanwhile, 28 inmates were killed yesterday in prison violence, according to a source in the Sinaloa state prosecutors’ office.
“We have confirmed 28 dead,’ said the source, speaking privately.
It was not immediately clear if there was a riot or another type of assault, the source said.
However, local press reports said around 20 of the inmates at the Mazatlan penitentiary are members of the notorious Los Zetas drug cartel, headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the most wanted drug trafficker most by the United States.
The reports said the 20 Zetas inmates recently demanded to be transferred out of the prison.
Sinaloa Governor Jesus Aguilar last week warned about serious overcrowding at the Mazatlan jail, where he said 6,000 inmates are presently crammed.
Mexico has been living an unprecedented climate of violence as powerful drug cartels vie for rich drug trafficking routes into the United States. Nearly 23,000 people have been killed in the country since a crackdown began in 2006.
All the Cartels are using extreme violence to achieve their goals. I believe that, in order to really hit them hard, the government should 1. clean its forces from corruption 2. Arm civilians to help around their communites to clean up 3. Let the U.S use UAV strikes on suspected Cartel hideouts,(after confirming intel) 4.Use Death penalty on ALL Sicarios,CArtel Members and TElevize it to the Community. (that will teach everyone a lesson) 5. take out the narco corridos and narco movies industry, that is a venue to induce young people into the trade.
Josefina Argüello – Chiapas