Issued on: 08/11/2024 – 17:38

2 minutes

The victims, between 13 and 53 years old, were part of a group of 17 people reported missing days ago in the town of Chilapa.

They were reported to be traveling merchants.

Their bodies were found Wednesday night in a van on an avenue in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, whose mayor was beheaded last month, less than a week after taking office.

Two women, four minors and five adult men from the community of Chautipan, an hour’s drive west of Chilpancingo, “who were being sought by this office,” state prosecutors said in a statement.

General Pedro Nieto, head of the armed forces in the region, said they were believed to have been kidnapped by the Los Ardillos drug cartel.

The military had been deployed to search for them.

The vehicle was found on a highway to Acapulco, the former beachside playground of the rich and famous, now ravaged by criminal violence.

The bodies had been dismembered, complicating efforts to identify them.

On October 22, ten of the victims disappeared and the remaining seven disappeared four days later when they went to look for their loved ones.

Guerrero has endured years of bloodshed related to turf wars between drug cartels, with residents often caught in the middle.

Criminal gangs in Mexico often use so-called “hawks” that identify and pursue strangers in the territory they control.

Last week three other dismembered bodies were found in a vehicle in Chilpancingo.

The spiral of violence, largely related to drug trafficking and gangs, has led to the murder of more than 450,000 people in Mexico since 2006.

Among the victims is Chilpancingo Mayor Alejandro Arcos, whose gruesome murder in early October caused shock and anger.

Last year, 1,890 murders were recorded in Guerrero, which is home to drug production and trafficking routes, including through Pacific seaports.

On October 24, armed clashes between alleged criminals and security forces left 19 people dead, including two police officers, in the southern state.

And this Monday, armed men killed five members of the same family in a suburb of Acapulco.

The Sinaloa cartel stronghold in the country’s northwest has also seen a rise in violence since the July arrest of drug trafficker Ismael Zambada in the United States sparked a wave of gang infighting.

Addressing the criminal violence that makes murders and kidnappings an everyday occurrence in Mexico is one of the main challenges facing President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The former mayor of Mexico City, who became the country’s first female president on October 1, ruled out declaring “war” on the drug cartels.

Instead, he has promised to continue his predecessor’s strategy of using social policy to attack crime at its roots, while making better use of intelligence.

© 2024 AFP