Two police officers were killed and their bodies hung from an overpass and seven more people were massacred by gunfire in Zacatecas Wednesday.
The police officers, who were from the neighboring state of San Luis Potosí, had been reported missing but were later found hanging from a highway overpass alongside a narco banner in Zacatecas city.
In Fresnillo, about 60 kilometers north of the state capital, an armed group entered a home and killed four women and three men. Another male and female were wounded and taken to hospital, and five children were found unharmed in a separate room.
San Luis Potosí Interior Minister Jorge Daniel Hernández Delgadillo explained the context of violence in the area. “In this area, particularly near the border with Zacatecas, there is a struggle for the control of the narcotics trade. The most prominent criminal groups do their most deplorable acts in this area,” he said.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CNJG) and the Sinaloa Cartel are engaged in a territorial battle over the state.
Senator Ricardo Monreal, who is from Fresnillo, has urged Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez to strengthen law enforcement. “For years insecurity has been on the rise in Zacatecas, as recent events have proven. Today I contacted the federal Minister of Security to request support in the state … I will discuss it with president @lopezobrador_,” he wrote on Twitter.
The killings are not an isolated case: on Saturday three bodies were found hanging from a bridge in Fresnillo.
In February, Zacatecas Governor Alejandro Tello asked the federal government for support, arguing that the cartels overpowered security forces in terms of manpower and weapons.
Ninety-five percent of residents in Fresnillo consider the municipality to be unsafe — the highest proportion in the country — according to a survey published by the statistics agency Inegi in April.
