2024-02-21 17:37:23
At least twelve suspected gang members have died in a clash between armed groups in southern Mexico. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed this on Wednesday. The National Guard is deployed there following the incident on Tuesday in a mountainous and remote region of the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan in the state of Guerrero.
The number of deaths might be even higher. Police found five burned bodies in the area, the Guerrero attorney general’s office said. According to media reports, a total of 17 people died.
The city of 24,000 is located in the Tierra Caliente region, where criminal groups such as La Familia Michoacana and the Tlacos fight each other for control of the drug trade, protection rackets and kidnappings. In June 2022, gunmen caused a bloodbath there that left 20 dead. They blocked the access routes to the town with trucks and buses and, among other things, shot the mayor.
Bishops of the Catholic Church in Guerrero announced last week that they had met with leaders of local drug cartels to negotiate an end to the violence – but to no avail. Mexico has been suffering from a bloody drug war for years. Last year, more than 30,000 people were murdered in the country with around 126 million inhabitants.
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