MexicoMore than forty dead in Mexico in a weekend of violence
Over the weekend more than twenty people were killed in a hail of bullets in Monterrey, Mexico; last Friday gunmen open fired on a bar indiscriminately killing patrons and even the hot dog vendor outside; in a weekend filled with violence, eleven bodies with gunshot wounds were found on the outskirts of Mexico City and ten decapitated heads were found in Torreon
Over the weekend more than twenty people were killed in a hail of bullets in Monterrey, Mexico. Their deaths were the latest in the escalating war that Mexican president Felipe Calderon is waging against the powerful drug cartels.
Last Friday gunmen open fired on a bar indiscriminately killing patrons and even the hot dog vendor outside. The massacre was part of a grisly weekend filled with violence – eleven bodies with gunshot wounds were found on the outskirts of Mexico City and ten decapitated heads were found in Torreon.
The Monterrey attack comes as part of a turf war between the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, who are currently locked in a deadly battle for control over the area. The bar where the shootout took place had a reputation as a hangout for drug users.The violence was one of the worst massacres that the state of Nuevo Leon has seen.
The El Norte newspaper of Monterrey reports that “They killed the hot dog vendor, someone known as “Mena,” and the doorman outside, and then they went in with their guns shooting.”
Monterrey has become the site of increasing violence which is causing many local businesses and leaders to worry as the city was once a major bustling business and industrial hub. Local leaders have pleaded with the government to restore peace, and despite the stepped up presence of federal police forces, the violence has continued.
In an effort to assure local residents in Monterrey, Alejandro Poire, the Mexican government’s security spokesman, said, “The violence will diminish as we accelerate our capacity to debilitate the gangs that produce it.”
In response to the weekend’s several bloody massacres Poire said that the federal government’s efforts to crack down on the cartels is for the best and that the recent spike in violence is the result of inter-gang warfare.
Public opinion polls reveal that the public has become increasingly concerned with the government’s ability to quell the violence and protect its citizens.
According to government spokesmen, since Calderon’s war against the cartels was launched in 2006, more than 35,000 people have died. Meanwhile, local newspapers put that number as high as 40,000.
