Record homicides in Mexico's heart of violence скачать в хорошем качестве

Record homicides in Mexico's heart of violence

(10 Feb 2020) A gun massacre of three young boys, a teenager and five others who were playing video games at an arcade in Michoacan is just one recent example of the violence in Mexico as it faces record homicide levels. The attack that occurred last week in Uruapan, a city of a 340,000, is part of an escalating wave of violence in the city. Just the day before, 11 bodies were found in clandestine graves on a hill where luxury apartments are being built. And the day prior to that, gunmen attacked a municipal police patrol, killing an officer and wounding two others. The attack may have been in retaliation for the earlier arrest of a Los Viagras leader who has been implicated in 19 killings. Recent events made clear that Uruapan, where murders rose 61% from 2018 to 2019 according to government figures, remains a hot spot of violence. The Jalisco New Generation cartel and Los Viagra gang are waging a turf war, and other groups and factions also come into play. On Wednesday, the day when the murdered boys were buried, only a handful of National Guard members were seen in Uruapan. The number of National Guard officers appeared to doubled the next day, checking cars and trucks. More police, both federal and state, were seen driving through town, circling Uruapan's central square. According to security expert Javier Oliva Posada, the National Guard is expanding its operation. "The objective this year is to establish 250 outposts, prioritized by how criminal activity overwhelm them," said Posada. The names of cartels have changed over the years in Uruapan as groups and alliances wax and wane, but the killings continue. Similar stories are playing out in many towns and cities across the country, leaving millions of Mexicans fearful, frustrated and discouraged amid record homicide levels, de facto cartel control over entire communities and no apparent end in sight to nearly a decade and a half of drug conflict. Residents can tell their own stories on the streets. Alejandra Uvilla fled her home city of Apatzingan because of overwhelming violence, moving 65 miles (105 km) north to bustling, mountain-nestled Uruapan in the avocado belt of Michoacan state. Three years later, the bloodshed is even worse here. "You constantly hear that there are a lot of dead here in Uruapan," said Uvilla, a 20-year-old stay-at-home mom. She said that she doesn't know what to do anymore other than be extra cautious with her 1-year-old son. "Life is very ugly here." The detonator of Mexico's drug war, which has left an estimated 150,000 dead so far, is often traced to Uruapan, where in September 2006 masked gunmen burst into a bar and tossed five severed heads onto the dance floor. Mexico recorded 35,588 homicides last year, the most since comparable records began to be kept in the 1990s, though the rate of increase was far lower than in previous years. Since then-President Felipe Caldern ramped up a militarized anti-drug offensive beginning in 2006, annual killings have more than tripled in the country. Current President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, who took office in December 2019, has in the past referred to his security strategy as "hugs not bullets" and emphasizes addressing root causes of violence such as poverty, youth unemployment and corruption, in contrast to his predecessors. Not everyone agrees. "They are not being fought. The classic 'hugging and kissing' is not working," said university professor Emiliano Maciel vila. According to Posada, it's the actual fragmentation of the traditional criminal organizations that has forced these small gangs to diversify violence. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...