Gunmen attacked a city hall and killed at least 20 people, including a mayor, in a southern Mexican state plagued by turf wars between rival drug cartels, authorities said Thursday.
Soldiers guarded the bullet-riddled building in San Miguel Totolapan after Wednesday’s massacre that killed Mayor Conrado Mendoza and his father, who held the office before him, in broad daylight.
The mayor was in a working session when he was shot, community official Freddy Vazquez told reporters.
“At first we couldn’t believe it. Our community is peaceful. We thought it was firecrackers … but little by little we listened more closely and realized it was gunfire,” he said.
Police officers and employees of the city administration are said to be among the victims.
The attack came amid disputes between criminal groups operating in the state of Guerrero, including one known as Los Tequileros and another known as La Familia Michoacana, Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejia said.
San Miguel Totolapan is located in the violent Tierra Caliente region on a drug trafficking route disputed by various cartels.
“It’s possible the killings stemmed from a dispute between Los Tequileros and La Familia Michoacana over control of the community,” security analyst David Saucedo told AFP.
Los Tequileros had previously been active in San Miguel Totolapan for several years, mainly staging kidnappings for ransom.
But the group’s influence waned after the death of one of its leaders in a 2018 shootout with police.
Just days before Wednesday’s attack, suspected members of Los Tequileros had threatened to return to the city, local press reported.
– ‘Cowardly Murder’ –
Guerrero, one of Mexico’s poorest states, has endured years of violence related to turf wars between drug cartels fighting for control of marijuana and opium production and drug trafficking.
“These are organizations that have been around for a long time. They did not arise during this administration and we are trying to address the causes,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters.
Guerrero Attorney General Sandra Luz Valdovinos said no one has yet been arrested in connection with the attack.
“There isn’t enough evidence yet to determine who is likely to be responsible,” she told local television.
Criminal gangs have maintained close ties with regional politicians, complicating efforts to pacify Guerrero despite the deployment of federal troops.
“Drug dealers control different parts of the state, and instead of fighting them, political parties have relied on them to win elections,” Saucedo said.
More than 340,000 people have been killed across Mexico in a spiral of bloodshed since the government deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006.
Local politicians are often victims of violence linked to corruption and the multi-billion dollar drug trade.
Mendoza is one of 94 mayors who have been assassinated in Mexico since 2000, according to the consulting firm Etellekt.
His party, the left-wing opposition party PRD, condemned the “cowardly murder”.
“We demand justice, enough impunity,” she wrote on Twitter.
Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado of the ruling Morena party said she had ordered a speedy investigation into the massacre.
“There will be no impunity for vicious aggression,” she tweeted.
