Security has been reinforced in eastern Michoacán after nine bodies were found in a Nissan pickup truck in Zitácuaro’s city center on Monday.

The unidentified bodies of eight men and one woman were discovered with gunshot wounds.

Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo, who ordered the security measure, blamed the killings on criminal gangs, which he said continue to fight each other in the region.

It is suspected that La Familia Michoacana cartel carried out the attack.

The governor sent out a warning to the perpetrators. “We have intelligence information that indicates that the most recent acts of violence in that area of the state are due to disputes between criminal groups … We are not going to allow them to put the population in distress, we are going to act and go for them,” he said.

He added that criminals often enter from other states. “They come here from neighboring states, generate crime and then return to their base,” he said.

Attorney General Adrián López Solís has said there is evidence that links the victims to drugs. “There is data from the investigations that indicate that the deceased could be related to the consumption and distribution of drugs in the region. We also know that they were killed elsewhere and left here in Michoacán,” he said.

Aureoles added that security forces in the area will work to prevent the establishment of criminal cells. “These groups have a very violent dispute to remain in control of the region, but we are not going to allow them; these events are not exclusive to Michoacán, throughout the country there is a complicated situation due to insecurity. They have no place here and we are not going to allow them,” he said.

Sources: Milenio (sp), Animal Político (sp), El Universal (sp)