Gang warfare is causing a new bloodbath in Mexico. At least 19 people were killed, including four Guatemalans, in a clash between two drug cartels in the southern state of Chiapas, the Security Ministry announced on Monday, which revised its death toll downwards. In a goods truck, “14 men were found murdered by firearm, two others in the cabin, two on the side and another about 100 meters away”he said in a statement, which previously reported 20 deaths.
The events occurred last Friday in the city of La Concordia, a few hours drive from the border with Guatemala. According to the ministry, initial investigations indicate that it is a “confrontation” between the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most powerful in the country, and a rival faction identified as the “Chiapas and Guatemala Cartel”. Authorities stress that the two criminal groups “are fighting for control of this border area” and according to the press release, “It has been established that at least four of the deceased were carrying identification cards issued by the Guatemalan government.”.
It was after receiving a call Saturday reporting the presence of bodies on a rural road that the police discovered the murdered people in a goods truck, they said. Several arrests have been made, concerning men linked to the “drug trafficking, human trafficking, human trafficking and arms trafficking” in the region where these events took place, according to the same source.
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450,000 dead and more than 100,000 missing since 2006
Last weekend, the federal government ordered the deployment of 1,200 troops to strengthen security along the border with Guatemala. Violence has intensified in the state of Chiapas due to rivalries between the Jalisco Nueva Generación and Sinaloa cartels, Mexico’s two largest criminal gangs. In late May, nine people were killed in two attacks on candidates in the June 2 general election. In June, Mexican authorities transferred more than 4,000 people who had sought shelter in their homes after days of organized crime-related violence in the city of Tula, about 100 kilometers north of La Concordia, to shelters.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the president-elect who was elected in early June, was briefly detained on April 21 by hooded men on a highway in the state where she was driving as part of her election campaign. According to the Insight Crime analysis center, the conflict is over control of border cities, a key area for drug and arms trafficking as well as the passage of migrants crossing Mexico to reach the United States. The violence linked to cartels has left some 450,000 dead and more than 100,000 missing since 2006 in Mexico, when the then president, Felipe Calderon (2006-2012), launched a military offensive against drug trafficking.
