A wave of violence left 48 people dead in eight states in just 36 hours between Thursday and Friday, the newspaper El Universal reported today.
Guanajuato saw the worst of it with 26 homicides across eight municipalities, where another five people suffered gunshot wounds. Three of the fatalities were women.
A man was killed in a cemetery in Santo Tomás Huatzindeo in the municipality of Salvatierra yesterday afternoon, just hours after he was abducted in the nearby town of Maravatío del Encinal.
In Irapuato, the body of a man with his hands tied together was found at around 5:30pm yesterday under a bridge on a main thoroughfare in the south of the city. A criminal organization claimed responsibility for the death in a message that was left with the body.
In the same city, two men were shot and killed at midday outside a mechanic’s workshop in the La Paz housing estate. Investigative police said one of the victims was the owner of the workshop.
Two men aged between 25 and 30 were also killed in the neighborhood of Los Tabachines while inside a vehicle.
Early yesterday morning, the homicide of a man in the San Juan de Retana neighborhood was also reported.
The man was found with bullet wounds in his abdomen while a 25-year-old woman was shot in her legs in the same attack.
In total, eight people were killed in Irapuato, a city known as the strawberry capital of Mexico.
Murders also occurred in the Guanajuato municipalities of Valle de Santiago, Salamanca, Yuriria, Tarimoro, Apaseo el Grande and Purísima del Rincón.
Intentional homicides in the state during the first six months of the year exceeded the total for all of last year, according to the National Public Security System. The numbers soared from 1,084 in 2017 to 1,254 between January and June this year.
In Morelos, where self-defense forces have recently formed in at least nine municipalities, the police chief in Yautepec was shot dead inside his home.
Police found the body of Adrián Barrera but the perpetrators of the crime had fled.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has announced publicly that it is going after the “plaza” in the state of Morelos, located to the immediate south of Mexico City.
In Chihuahua, authorities reported that nine men had been killed in separate incidents.
Six of the homicides occurred in Ciudad Juárez and one each in the state capital of Chihuahua and the municipalities of Urique and Valle de Allende.
The victim in Urique was a 17-year-old male who was found in the community of Piedras Verdes with gunshot wounds to his head.
Authorities also said that three people were shot dead in Oaxaca.
In Guerrero, one of Mexico’s most violent states, suspected gang members killed two people and burned two Nissan vans that operated as public transportation on the route between Chilapa and Chilpancingo.
According to a police report, armed men arrived at the transportation base in the state capital at around 7:30pm yesterday where they killed one person and burned a vehicle.
Minutes later, another van was intercepted and burned on a road leading into Chilpancingo and the driver was killed.
Guerrero security authorities also reported that a person was found dead in the municipality of Coyuca de Catalán yesterday morning.
In San Luis Potosí, a 44-year-old Uber driver was found dead yesterday in the municipality of Villa de Reyes after being reported missing Thursday.
Another Uber driver was found dead inside a house in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.
The 18-year-old man had been missing since last Saturday night when he responded to a call at a Salon de Fiestas, or party hall, in the east of the city.
In Quintana Roo, a gun battle in Puerto Juárez — five kilometers northeast of downtown Cancún — between police and armed civilians at around 8:15pm yesterday left at least five people dead including a police officer.
Two other people were wounded in the confrontation.
High levels of violent crime have continued in Mexico this year after the highest murder rate in at least two decades was recorded in 2017.
Homicide figures for the first six months of 2018 were up 15% compared to the same period last year, making the January to June period the most violent of at least the past two decades.
Source: El Universal (sp), Reporte Indigo (sp), Reforma (sp)
