The bodies of three women and four men, including a minor, were found the day before Sunday in Veracruz (east), one of the states of the country most torn by violence, the general prosecutor’s office announced yesterday, Monday.
Seven members of the same family have been murdered in eastern Mexico, as criticism of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s security policy is doubling, even as the head of state insists on repeating that violence is not solved by violence.
The bodies of three women and four men, including a minor, were found the day before Sunday in Veracruz (east), one of the states of the country most torn by violence, the general prosecutor’s office announced yesterday, Monday.
The victims “were members of the same family”, which owned a chain of butcher shops, a source close to the National Guard, a security force established by President López Obrador after he took power in 2018, told AFP.
Mexico has been hit by a wave of violence largely attributed to drug cartels, with more than 340,000 murders and tens of thousands of disappearances since December 2006, according to official figures. Former president Vicente Calderon (2006-2012) had then launched the so-called “war on drugs”, which, however, radicalized the gangs and broke them into more heavily armed – and bloodthirsty – cores.
From January to May, 12,737 murders were recorded in Mexico, according to official statistics.
On Saturday, an army officer was killed during an operation that allowed the arrest of three “narcos” in the state of Sonora, the head of state announced yesterday, during his morning press conference.
“We are convinced that violence cannot be dealt with by violence,” Mr. López Obrador repeated yesterday, emphasizing that he wants to deal primarily with the causes of violence: poverty and unemployment.
But his policy, which he summarizes as “hugs, not guns”, is increasingly being questioned, especially after the murder of two Jesuits about ten days ago in a church in a mountainous, isolated area in the state of Chihuahua (north).
“So many murders in Mexico!”, Pope Francis, himself a Jesuit, reprimanded.
“It is time to revise the security strategies, which are headed for failure”, was the reaction of the Mexican bishops’ conference, which demanded that the government listen to society (the families of the victims, the police, the media, its parties opposition…) and to start a “national dialogue” for the restoration of “peace” in the country. “We believe it is useless to deny reality,” added the leadership of the Mexican Roman Catholic Church.
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