On Tuesday, eleven individuals were murdered in mass shootings in a small town in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, according to the state prosecutor’s office. In the past week, this is at least the fourth mass murder in the county.
The shooting occurred in the township of Chicomuselo, which is renowned for its role in drug and migrant trafficking and has recently been the site of cartel turf battles, according to the office.
In an effort to apprehend the perpetrators, officials declared that security forces had commenced surveillance of the region near the Guatemalan frontier.
The homicides occurred in the sparsely populated region near the Guatemalan-Mexican border, specifically in the township and the outlying hamlet of Morelia.
The lush vegetation, Mayan ruins, and indigenous communities of Chiapas have made it a highly sought-after tourist destination.
Nevertheless, the frontier region has experienced a significant amount of violence as the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels vie for territory. Last month, masked men intercepted a vehicle transporting Mexico’s leading presidential candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, as she traveled between campaign sites. They requested that she address the violence in Chiapas if she were to win the June 2 election.
Thousands of individuals have been displaced as a result of the cartels’ efforts to control migrant, drug, and weapon smuggling routes and coerce locals into recruitment.
Within the past week, at least four mass murders have taken place in Mexico, with Chiapas serving as the location. According to officials, eight individuals were killed in a shooting that occurred over the weekend in the heart of Morelos, a state in Mexico that is adjacent to Mexico City. On Wednesday, nine carcasses were discovered in the northern Mexican metropolis of Zacatecas. This occurred exactly one day after the discovery of nine additional remains on an avenue in Fresnillo, Zacatecas State. Authorities reported that messages addressed to a criminal organization were discovered with the remains.
Mexico has documented more than 450,000 homicides since 2006, when a contentious anti-drug military operation was initiated, according to official statistics.
