Bloody weekend in Guerrero; Violence is spiraling

Posted by DD 

Yahoo News reported a teenager's quinceanera  on Saturday evening became the scene of a ghastly massacre in southern Mexico where nine people were fatally shot, including two minors, officials said on Monday. (a quinceanera is a Latino traditional birthday party for a young girl on her 15th birthday - a kind of coming out party)

Details are still scant and the exact number killed are not clear.   Governor Hector Astudillo.announced that 11 people were killed at the party, but investigators from the Attorney Generals office said they found only 9 bodies.

There are conflicting reports of exactly what happened.  Governor Astudillo said in his announcement  "There was a problem at a 15th birthday party, and according to the information we have, 11 people were killed".

Most of the Mexican press is reporting that two opposing groups of armed men met by chance at the location of the party and a balacera erupted between the 2 groups.  

BBC is reporting that the EFE news agency, citing family accounts, reported that the shooting could have started after a disagreement between two families who were attending the party.

To further confuse the issue of what happened is a report by Telesur that all of the bodies showed signs of torture and they were all shot in the head.   But that doesn't fit with a scenario of a quarrel between 2 families or a chance shoot-out between 2 rival gangs.

Hepefully the A/G will issue a statement soon as to what their investigation revealed. 

A report of the murders reached the authorities in the municipality (county seat) of  Coyuca de Catalán.  A convoy of 70 Federal Police, State Police and soldiers embarked on the hour long trip to Cundancito, a puebla of about 500 residents to verify the deaths and investigate what happened.

About 1AM Sunday en route to Cundancito they came upon a road block of large stones that had been placed on the highway.  Anticipating  an ambush, they exited their vehicles and took up defensive positions.  Presumably the armed group attacking them thought they were a convoy of a rival gang and started firing on them.  When the delinquents realized they were police they scattered into the hills.  

That was when  the police discovered a civilian car had been following the convoy and it was stopped a few meters behind the convoy and and was riddled with bullet holes.  Inside the car was a newly wed couple that were starting their honeymoon.  The girl had a bullet wound in the head was identified as Lourdes Escutia Viveros, IMSS nurse, and her husband as Valentine Arturo Garcia Salinas, an orderly of the same institute.

The husband Garcia Salinas told authorities they were married in Mexico City that afternoon (Saturday) and were en route to  Zihuatanejo for their honeymoon.  He said he chose this route because his GPS on his car told him it was the shortest and fastest.  

His wife died from the head wounds shortly after arriving at the hospital.  

Around 3AM, the convoy made another attempt to proceed  but came under fire again.  They retreated to the county seat and tried again at 8AM, this time more prepared and with the advantage of daylight, they made it through.   

Evidently the families had taken at least some of the bodies to their homes because SurAcappulco reported that along the way the prosecutor located some of the dead in their homes in different towns.  First was Jose Isabel, Salamanca The Chabelo and Emilio Rodriguez 43 and 31 years old; Tomas Pineda Velázquez and 42 years of age, three of the Cundancito.

In the community of Cundán Great, they located Benito Rodriguez Coria 50 years old. Besides the Zuriel, Abdiel, and Salto Islands brothers Kevin, 29, 18, and 16 years old, and his cousin Islands Narciso Mercado, 17.

While in a canyon near Tepehuaje, they placed ninth body Ramiro Lopez Medina, 21, a native of Amuco of the Reformation.

Families who came to the Public Ministry in the city confirmed the names of two missing persons: Alejandro Cervantes Olayo, a native of Ciudad Altamirano, and Martin Amuco Aureoles of the Reformation.

Pena Nieto said last year that the violence in Guerrero was a "local problem".  The currrent governor of Guerrero says "Guerrero is ok".  Since he took office last Oct. 27 there have been 324 homocides in a least 7 municipalities.  That number includes the 130 homicides in Aculpoco.

The Violence is Spiraling 

We don't have enough reporters to cover all the killings just in Guerrero, much less the whole of Mexico.  They are killing people faster than we can write stories.

We are lucky to have a reporter like Lucio who has great connections and sources in Guerrero.  He reported last week on the beheaded bodies discovered in the capital city of Chilpancingo.  He had that story up the same day they found the bodies.  But he can only do so much.  

The following is a recap of some of what happened in just the first month of this year. It was written by Alex Smith  and published in Jammed Up 

 Fourteen people executed as violence spirals out of control in Mexican state of Guerrero
Despite efforts by the Mexican military to intervene, cartel-related violence continued to spiral out of control in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero after the execution of 14 people in a matter of two days.

According to Proceso, the fourteen killings occurred as the government sent the military into the state in an attempt to quell the violence.

On Saturday, seven people were executed in different parts of Guerrero.(DD; before noon)

Local media reported two women, and a man shot to death in the early morning hours near in the city of Iguala.

The victims, who ranged in ages between 25 and 30 years old, stood outside a store when a pair of gunmen arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire, killing all three victims and wounding another man.

 TO READ THE REST OF THIS STORY CLICK HERE.