Gunmen killed 10 people in a bar in Querétaro city on Saturday, while another five people were murdered in a shooting at a México state bar on Sunday.
Seven men and three women were killed and 13 other people were injured in the attack perpetrated at the Los Cantaritos bar near the historic center of Querétaro City at around 9 p.m. Saturday. Two of the injured were in very serious condition in hospital, Querétaro Governor Mauricio Kuri said Sunday.
Video footage shows that a vehicle stopped in front of Los Cantaritos before gunmen got out and entered the bar. One of four alleged aggressors was arrested after police pursued the getaway car, which the aggressors set on fire in the neighboring municipality of El Marqués.
The Querétaro Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation aimed at detaining the other suspects.
Querétaro Mayor Felipe Fernando Macías said in a video message on Sunday that the attack was “directed” at other criminals and “derived” from the violence Mexico is experiencing on a “national level.”
The newspaper Reforma reported that the attack could be related to a dispute between criminals linked to the Guanajuato-based Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel. That criminal organization is engaged in a long-running turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Guanajuato.
Macías described the attack as “unusual” and said it put authorities “on maximum alert.”
Querétaro has been largely spared the high levels of violence that plague some parts of Mexico, but there have been a number of armed attacks in the state since Oct. 1. Among more than 20 homicide victims since the beginning of last month were three people shot dead at a nightclub in Querétaro city last Thursday.
The Guanajuato-based newspaper Periódico Correo reported last week that recent murders in Querétaro appeared to be linked to the “escape” of people from Guanajuato to the neighboring state. Guanajuato is Mexico’s most violent state in terms of total homicides, with more than 4,300 murders last year.
Governor Kuri described the attack on Saturday night as “unprecedented for our beautiful state of Querétaro.”
“… What I want to tell you is that we cannot allow this, in Querétaro we’re going to continue defending our quality of life,” he said in a video message.
“… In Querétaro, we’re not going to allow ourselves to be contaminated by what is happening in other parts of the republic. Things might happen here but we’re always going to respond,” Kuri said.
After the Saturday night massacre, Querétaro city authorities shut down at least five bars for not having licenses.
In his video message, Macías said that the Querétaro municipal police force is “ready to act with all its force.”
“Rest assured that we’re acting with the governor, with state police, … with the state Attorney General’s Office, with the National Guard and with the Mexican Army,” the mayor said.
“… We’re going to defend our city to continue living in peace,” he said.
5 killed in second bar attack in México state
Around 24 hours after the attack in Querétaro, five people were reportedly killed and seven others wounded when gunmen opened fire in the Bling Bling bar in the México state municipality of Cuautitlán Izcalli, part of the metropolitan area of Mexico City.
Three men and two women were killed, according to reports. Those injured were taken to hospital for treatment.
🔴#Edomex Así el bar #BlingBling en #SanFranciscoTepojaco #CuautitlánIzcalli donde fueron acribilladas cinco personas y siete mas resultaron lesionadas en un presunto ajuste de cuentas pic.twitter.com/8B2wFCHEZd
— Aquíedomexnoticias (@aquiedomex) November 11, 2024
The aggressors fled the scene and no arrests were reported. As of 10:30 a.m. Monday, authorities hadn’t publicly commented on the crime.
México state was Mexico’s second most violent state in 2023, with more than 2,800 homicides. The state is made up of 125 municipalities, dozens of which are part of greater Mexico City.
Almost 3,000 murders since Sheinbaum took office
Citing an analysis of government data conducted by polling company TResearch, Reuters reported Sunday that there had been 2,788 homicides in Mexico since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office on Oct. 1.
During Sheinbaum’s first 40 days in office, there were at least eight attacks in which four or more people were killed, the newspaper El Financiero reported Monday. A total of 51 people were killed in those attacks, not including those murdered in Cuautitlán Izcalli on Sunday night.
Sheinbaum faces a wide range of security challenges, including an ongoing conflict in Sinaloa between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, the turf war between the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel and the CJNG in Guanajuato, frequent clashes between the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG in the southern border region of Chiapas and the nationwide fight against the manufacture and trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
Since she was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president, the Mexican army has been involved in various confrontations, including one in which 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa Cartel were killed and another that left 17 alleged criminals dead in Guerrero.
On Sheinbaum’s first day as president, soldiers killed six migrants when they opened fire on vehicles that attempted to evade a military checkpoint in Chiapas.
With reports from Reforma, El Financiero, El Economista, Radio Fórmula and N+
