Oaxaca: 17 People Assassinated in 48 Hours

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from:El Siglo de Durango

Extra Material/ Photos from: ImparcialOaxaca
By: Floriberto Santos, Feb 16, 2018
San Juan Lachigalla, Oaxaca

At least seven people were shot dead in San Juan Lachigalla and a former mayor was killed in Ejutla de Crespo, Thursday morning; the massacre of seven people in the municipality of Lachigalla occurred around 1:30 am , Feb 15, during  a popular Valentine's Day dance celebration. 

According to witnesses, the Valentine's Dance on Wednesday began with entertainment by the musical group  Los Paniqueados de Oaxaca.

According to the first police reports, a group of armed men arrived at the municipal esplanade and opened fire on the attendees. The festivities were being held at the large multi purpose room near the town's main Zocolo Plaza in El Centro with many people and families inside and out of the building. 

Suddenly, at 01:30 hours am, the dance music was interrupted by bursts gunfire and flying shrapnel.

                  Municipal Salon / Multipurpose Event Building, San Juan Lachigalla, Oaxaca

Outside the room there was an uproar where the President of this municipality, Rafael Melchor Ruiz, and several family members were hanging out together.

"Everything was fast, several shots were heard, some ran to protect us, after a while we left and it was already a scandal, there were several bodies lying around," said a resident with some distrust.

The first police reports indicate that a command of 8 to 10 men were those who arrived and opened fire. At different points, the dead bodies of seven people were left. Another was injured and taken to a hospital.

According to the eye witnesses inspection, the group of killers used .223 caliber weapons, known as AR-15s. There were also 9 mm caliber percussion caps.

Among the deceased victims were Marcial "N", 60 years old, father of the municipal president of San Juan Lachigalla, Rafael Melchor Ruiz. Felix, 28; Miguel Ángel, 25 and Lucano, brothers of the mayor.

It was reported that five people killed in the attack are relatives of the mayor and his son was among the dead. Also killed were: Jorge Antonio, 20, son of the president and Manolo, 29, a cousin.

Another of the deceased is Genaro, 56, an inhabitant of this town, who was found in possession of a 45-caliber pistol.

The multihomicide was confirmed by the Secretariat of Public Security of Oaxaca and the PGR, State Attorney General.

Immediately after the attack elements of the Mexican Army arrived;  who just a month ago came to this jurisdiction to improvise a base near an area of ​​on going violence and aggression.

The military force mobilized at different points, between hills, but could not encircle the attackers.

"As the first responders arrived with a Second Lieutenant of Infantry, it was the Army who cordoned off the area," said a police officer .

It is presumed, said a senior police officer, that the attackers  are professional thugs, assassins, who apparently located their victims and planned the massacre.

"We think that they were watching for a while, waiting for the moment when the family was together, the strange thing is that nobody in the town was made suspicious of these people , who were possibly unknown to the inhabitants," he said.

At approximately 03:00 hours, personnel from the State Attorney General's Office arrived to take charge of the investigations. 

Experts and elements of the State Agency of Investigations headed by the general coordinator, José Antonio Yglesias Arreola, packed up all remaining evidence.

At approximately 3:00 p.m., the practice of necropsies performed in the same palace was completed.

At the time of the delivery of the bodies, dozens of relatives waiting in front of the Municipal Palace, burst into tears.

                    Municipal Palace / Government Headquarters in San Juan Lachigalla, Oaxaca

In the municipality of Ejutla de Crespo, the former municipal president and former state official Francisco Hernández was murdered, also by  gunfire, without the assailant (s) being identified.

Nine more people were shot dead yesterday in different communities of Oaxaca, and a person was kidnapped in Loma Bonita.

In Loma Bonita, a municipality adjacent to Veracruz, confirmed the disappearance yesterday of Victorio "N", leader of an organization of agricultural producers of the Papalopan region, and his whereabouts are still unknown; his alleged captors uploaded a video to social networks in which Victorio reveals the way in which he cheated his union members, along with other accomplices.

During Valentine's Day, nine people, including a policeman, were murdered in different communities of Oaxaca.

Two homicides occurred last night Wednesday in San Juan Bautista Tuxtepec; in a private home on Calle 21 de Marzo at the  corner with Margarita Jiménez, in the Progreso neighborhood; The victims still have not been identified.

In Matías Romero Avendaño a police persecution happened, after an operation; armed men fired on a patrol and killed municipal policeman Gabriel Vera Melchor; The events took place around 7:00 p.m. on the corner of Corregidora and Cuauhtémoc streets, in Colonia Centro Norte.

In the town of Agostadero, in the municipality of Santa María Tonameca, the corpse of an individual was found, with three shots of fired, one of them in the temple; He was found inside a black plastic bag and has not yet been identified.

While in Rincon Tlapacoya, belonging to the district of Zimatlán, a man known Eugenio Díaz Ibáñez was shot to death, while he was working on his land.

Yesterday morning  on the Peripheral Avenue in Colonia 25 de Mayo , in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Istmo region, two individuals were shot to death, identified only as Francisco Javier and Roberto, alias "Goku".

In Tuxtepec, municipality of the Papaloapan Basin region, an individual was murdered inside a bar. The events occurred during the early morning hours in the establishment located on Aldama Street; According to his identification, he was called Mario Alberto de Jesús Domínguez Mazaña, originally from Mérida, Yucatán.

Six members of a family and another inhabitant of this community located in the limits of the Central Valleys and the Sierra Sur, were killed by an armed commando early yesterday.

While in the early hours of this day, two people were attacked in the Municipality of Huajuapan de León, in the Mixteca region, by those allegedly traveling in a Chevrolet car.

The attack took place on Avenida 5 de Febrero, near an IMSS hospital; the deceased was identified as Adam, approximately 34 years old, another injured identified as  Julio, 24 years old; both are from  El Molino,  Municipality of Huajuapan, in the Mixteca region of the Oaxacan state.

Last year there was also attacks and death: in June of 2017, another massacre occurred, only seven months ago.

The mourning returns to this town of San Juan Lachigalla that borders the municipalities of San Pedro Taviche, Santa María Zoquitlán and Yaxe, San Luis Amatlán, San José Lachiguirí, Santa María Zoquitlán and Coatecas Altas.

Rafael Santiago Matías, former municipal secretary of the community, and his cousin, Felipa Ríos Luis, were executed by gunfire, also by an armed commando.

Rafael was driving his vehicle to Ejutla de to continue the journey to  Oaxaca City. Traveling together with him, was his cousin , 31 years old and two minors.

When passing through El Portillo, on the stretch from Coatecas Altas to San Juan Lachigalla, men dressed in military clothing and carrying assault rifles came out and began firing at the vehicle.

The former municipal official and his cousin were left dead inside the truck.

Miraculously, the children with them managed to save their own lives: by playing dead so that the assassins would not attack them.

When the murderers escaped, the young children ran into the mountains and managed to reach the first houses of Coatecas, where they asked for help.

Unofficially it was announced on that occasion that as the investigations progressed, it is presumed that Rafael had some death threats against him; that is how it was reported in the town.

Although the police did not want to give more details, it is known that they took into account that the deceased had had problems with some of the authorities of the community and another family member of the community.

MAOSS Demands Justice:

For their part, representatives of the Broad Movement of Municipalities and Social Organizations of the South (MAOSS), which is attached to the so-called National Movement for Hope (MNE), demanded that the government of the state investigate and clarify this armed aggression.

Eli Eduardo Vásquez Ramírez, general coordinator of MAOSS, condemned the violence in the region and accused a political background, since next year elections will be held in the town of Lachigalla.

He added that MAOSS will provide all political and legal support to the municipal president Rafael Melchor Ruiz.

"This situation is alarming in Oaxaca, we do not want it to become a Tamaulipas, Monterrey or a Veracruz," he said.