The terror of drug traffickers in Mexico has once again shown its teeth this Thursday with a balance of 11 dead in the streets of Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua, in northern Mexico. In a multiple attack, which included shooting innocents at the doors of restaurants, gas stations, Molotov cocktails against businesses and burning a bus, organized crime has unleashed panic among the population of this city bordering the United States for more than six hours. . A 4-year-old boy died from the burst of shots fired at a store, two women died when the premises where they worked caught fire, and four more were shot at the doors of a pizzeria, including a radio announcer, Alan González and three companions. As night fell, almost all the convenience stores, the main target of the attacks, were lowering their curtains, a neighbor tells EL PAÍS by phone. Chaos has gripped the city a few hours after a riot broke out at the state prison with two inmates shot to death.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has regretted what happened this Friday in his morning conference. “This is something that had not been presented and hopefully it will not be repeated, because the innocent civilian population was attacked as a kind of retaliation. It was not just the confrontation between two groups, but there came a time when they started shooting at civilians. This is the most unfortunate thing about this matter, ”he has pointed out. Although it is not the first drug trafficker event against the civilian population. In an attack with a similar force, a year ago, in Reynosa (Tamaulipas), also on the northern border, the narco gunned down 14 civilians in its streets.
The Undersecretary of Security, Ricardo Mejía, explained this Friday that it all started with a battle between two gangs —supported by the big cartels— in the state prison. Around 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, a group known as the Mexicles attacked another called Los Chapos. There were 20 wounded, four of them by firearm shots, the rest by beatings, and two shot to death. The fight inside the prison spread hours later to the streets of the city and the Mexicles, according to official information, were responsible for setting fire to a dozen businesses, gas stations using Molotov cocktails, in addition to shooting at point-blank range against the population.
During the six hours of hell that the city experienced, its population watched as the criminals walked around with rifles and bombs without an authority being able to stop them. It was at 1 a.m. local time, at 2 a.m. in the center of the country, when the Municipal Police arrested six alleged aggressors, identified as gunmen from the Los Mexicles group, Mejía reported. “Order has been restored, although the persecution of more aggressors continues,” explained the undersecretary.
“I deeply regret the loss of human lives in this heinous event against Ciudad Juárez,” Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said in a Twitter message Thursday night. ”I condemn the violent acts that occurred this afternoon. I reiterate my commitment to work to the best of my strength and capabilities to guarantee the well-being of Juarenses,” she added. This was the first official statement after six hours of attacks. Shortly before, the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (UACJ) announced the cancellation of classes that Thursday and this Friday it has held them virtually.
It all started in jail. The shots inside the prison are an example of the lack of government behind the walls and how what happens inside could spread to the streets of the city in a matter of hours. The population once again became the target of criminals, despite the fact that it was a fight for control of the territory, organized crime used the terror of the population to achieve its objectives. Often, these involve calling the attention of the authorities, increasing the police force, which can harm whoever was the owner of the illegal traffic in the area. In drug jargon, this strategy, more similar to terrorist practices, is known as heat the square.
Shortly after the prison riot, videos of neighbors recorded with cell phones began to circulate warning that a group of armed men had thrown Molotov cocktails and bullets at well-known local food chains, such as Rapiditos Bip-Bip, OXXO, CircleK or Del Río —owned by Alejandra de la Vega, one of the richest businesswomen in the state, who also owns the Los Bravos soccer team—.
Around 5:00 p.m., southeast of the city, in the Infonavit Juárez Nuevo neighborhood, in an OXXO chain store, two women were killed after an attack with Molotov cocktails that set the business on fire in a matter of seconds. According to the information published by the Diario de Juárez, which cites the municipal authorities, the victims were an employee of the establishment and another young woman who had come to ask for work.
They also threw bombs at another OXXO branch located on Ejercito Nacional and Manuel Gómez Morín avenues, where the company’s managers managed to escape safely. In another similar establishment, belonging to the Circle K chain, four people were shot at by another group of armed men. In the attack, a 4-year-old boy was shot and died in a hospital hours later. There was no attempted robbery, local authorities mention, in any of the cases.
Later, another group of employees of a convenience store called Del Río, were attacked with blows and bullets. One man was injured after the attack, local press reports. They also threw Molotov cocktails at a gas station located at the intersection of San Antonio and Gómez Morín streets and their facilities were shot at.
In addition to the shops, the authorities reported a massacre at the doors of a Little Caesar’s pizzeria, on Ejército Nacional and Rancho Mesteñas avenues in Pradera Dorada. Four men were riddled with bullets, among them the announcer of the MegaRadio station Alan González, and two other clients of the premises were wounded by bullets. The burning of a bus that transported the personnel of a factory, known in the north as a maquiladora, was also reported. The passengers managed to descend before it was consumed by the flames.
The chaos that Juárez has experienced this Thursday has been mixed with the macabre daily life of the violence that has besieged the border city for decades. A severed head thrown on a piece of land was also found this Thursday afternoon, reports the Diario de Juárez, without an authority having explained if it had any relation to the attacks. “It is the second cephalic extremity found in less than 24 hours,” reports the newspaper. And in another part of the city, in the Paraje de Oriente subdivision, a man was riddled with bullets while he was fleeing from his attackers. “This is the 49th intentional homicide of the month of August,” says the newspaper. In Juárez, a city of one and a half million inhabitants, almost 5 people a day have been killed this month alone, not counting the 11 killed on Thursday.
In the videos that circulate on social networks, cars are seen stuck in traffic while gunshots sound in the background. State and municipal police confronted some groups of criminals on Technological Avenue when the desperate drivers decided to get out of their vehicles and take cover from the lead behind the car bodywork.
The multiple attacks that have put in check one of the symbolic capitals of the northern border, next to El Paso (Texas, United States), have occurred just a few days after in the center of the country, in municipalities of Jalisco and Guanajuato, organized crime groups burned cars, trucks and businesses, and also blocked several highways. It was the drug trafficker’s response to the attempt by the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to arrest two alleged leaders of one of the most powerful drug cartels, the Jalisco New Generation, their nicknames: El Doble R and El Apá.
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