Over 25 reported shot around Mexico

No less than 27 were reported shot dead around Mexico between 25 and 28 June, in incidents including shootouts with troops and police, gun fights between gangsters and criminal executions. Gunmen shot dead four employees of a cosmetics firm in the northern city of Juárez as they sprayed the firm's premises with gunfire early on 28 June, the broadcaster Azteca reported. Four men were executed the evening before in Madera in the northern state of Chihuahua; a note was left by the dead alleging they had been kidnappers, Proceso reported. The executioners were said to have arrived in 10 cars, then placed the victims against a wall and shot them. Eight were killed in the evening of 27 June in Fresnillo in the north-central state of Zacatecas, in shootouts between gangsters and with the army, the website Zacatecas en linea reported. Six of the victims apparently ran into an army patrol while fleeing the first shootout in two cars; they fired on the army vehicle and were shot dead. In the state capital Zacatecas a man was shot dead in a bar very early on 27 June, Azteca television reported. Early on 28 June police shot dead an armed man in the district of Cuautlán de García Barragán in the western state of Jalisco after a patrol came under fire, El Siglo de Torreón reported. Four gunmen and a soldier were killed early on 26 June in a shootout near a school in the northern city of Reynosa, national media reported. This and a shootout late on 25 June in San Fernando south of Reynosa left in total nine dead on 25-26 June in the state of Tamaulipas bordering the United States, Proceso reported.

Over 50 reported killed, found dead in Mexico in days

Every day in Mexico yields a steady stream of violent deaths - many related to drugs and cartels - that make corresponding figures in other Latin American countries seem paltry or risible. At least 51 were reported as killed or found dead from late 28 March to 2 April. The review Proceso counted at least 14 killings around the country on or just before 29 March; victims included five shot to death that day in a dispute between unspecified individuals gathered in a house in the north-western district of Sinaloa de Leyva, Proceso reported. At least 13 were killed on 30 March: these included a policeman who was among five shot dead in the state of Morelos, a decapitated body found in the northern frontier city of Juárez, and two men executed and left hanging from a bridge in Atizapán de Zaragoza in central Mexico, Proceso reported. It reported separately the kidnapping of five men described as in their 20s, while driving before dawn on 30 March in the west-coast state of Guerrero. An unnamed individual "who apparently escaped" from the incident was cited as saying that gunmen forced the five into three cars on a road between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo, in the district of Atoyac de Álvarez, Proceso reported. Five were shot dead and 16 injured on 31 March in attacks on two bars in the western city of Guadalajara, and nine dismembered bodies were found at the back of a van outside the north-eastern city of Victoria, Proceso reported. The review observed that a surge in violence in Ciudad Victoria was attributed to an intensifying turf war between the Gulf and Zetas cartels. Five presumed members of a family were murdered in a village outside the north-western resort of Mazatlán in Sinaloa early on 2 April, Milenio reported. They were found in the village of Chilacayota, three of them in a house "with torture marks," state prosecutors were cited as saying. These may have been among the 10 Proceso counted as killed on 2 April, as it stated six of them were killed in the state of Sinaloa. In the eastern state of Veracruz, authorities publicly presented on 2 April 10 municipal policemen detained at an unspecified date when they were caught selling drugs. State police and marines caught the policemen of the district of Coatepec selling synthetic drugs by a road outside the state capital Xalapa; firearms and "497 doses of green weed, apparently marijuana" were taken from their cars, Milenio reported on 3 April. The policemen confessed to complementing their policing work with drug dealing, while one admitted collaborating with an unspecified gang or cartel, Proceso reported.

Forty killed in violence around Mexico

At least 40 were reported killed or found dead in violent incidents around Mexico on 24-28 January, including armed criminals, cartel operatives, policemen and eight folk singers who were apparently "tortured" then shot. Six victims were reported as gunned down in the central state of Hidalgo on 25-26 January in two killings police provisionally attributed to the cartel Caballeros Templarios, Proceso reported. The review reported 11 killings in several states on 24-25 January, including of a policeman shot while eating by a food stall and a member of the Sinaloa drug cartel. The gangster was killed by municipal police during response to a car theft in Juárez in the northern state of Chihuahua; he was identified as number 11 in the cartel's hierarchy, Proceso reported on 25 January. The policeman was identified as police chief of the village of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga in the western state of Jalisco. Five at least were reported shot dead on 26 January in or near the districts of Ocampo and Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua. One was a 19-year-old gunman killed by soldiers during an attempted highway robbery and another a policeman of Ciudad Juárez, Proceso reported. Seven suspected criminals were killed on 25 or 26 January as gunmen in cars traded fire on the road between Magdalena and Tequila in the western state of Jalisco, Proceso reported, citing Notimex. Troops shot dead three presumed gangsters early on 27 January, apparently responding to firing from a house in Fresnillo in the north-central state of Zacatecas; the patrol had arrived after authorities received calls there were armed men in the house. The bodies of eight members of the musical group Kombo Kolombia kidnapped days before were found on 28 January on an estate in the district of Mina in the northern state of Nuevo León; The group, whose members were numbered in reports at 16 or 20, was thought to have been kidnapped on the night of 24-25 January in the nearby district of Hidalgo as it prepared to play a concert, Milenio reported on 28 January.

Mexican policemen held for "torture," mayor beats neighbours

Three Mexican policemen from the northern frontier city of Juárez were detained at an unspecified date, accused of beating two detainees and sodomizing one of them with a baseball bat or similar item so he would confess to selling drugs, Proceso reported on 23 December, citing the Juárez daily El Diario. Five policemen were facing charges relating to the incident, which occurred last May, although two had fled, the dailies reported. The plaintiffs had been stopped by police while riding one or two motorbikes; after initial questioning they were taken to a building for more vigorous interrogation: this included beatings and for one detainee, being forced to swallow bullets covered in urine and sodomized with a bat. The two apparently had their heads doused in liquor and were later taken to a local judge and reported for drinking in public. The policemen were ordered detained on 17 November and presented before a judge on 23 December. In the state of Morelos south of Mexico City, the mayor of Tlaltizapán had police beat two of his neighbours after they complained about police cars parked outside their house, Proceso reported on 22 December, citing Mexico's Notimex. When a female neighbour complained to the mayor he ordered policemen to arrest her, while another neighbour who intervened was beaten by police in front of relatives including children. The family later complained to the National Human Rights Commission, which publicized the incident in a communiqué and wrote to the municipality. It was not immediately clear if the mayor faced prosecution.

Over 50 killed, found dead in Mexico in week

At least 53 were reported killed or found dead around Mexico in the period 19-24 November, likely all or most the victims of criminal incidents and mostly in the northern state of Chihuahua; these ranged from most recent shooting deaths to skeletal remains found in clandestine graves. The latter included three ditches found on the periphery of Juárez in Chihuahua, which police observed contained "at least" 11 remains of victims of whom some may have been killed two years before, Proceso reported on 24 November. Eight half-naked bodies were also found that day by a road in the Rosales district near Ciudad Juárez, Proceso reported, citing the local Diario de Juárez. Signs indicated the victims had been tortured then shot to death. In total 13 were reported killed or found dead in the northern states of Chihuahua and Sonora on 20-22 November, Proceso reported separately. In what is now a custom among cartels and gangs in Mexico, several victims were decapitated, dismembered and "bagged," as with two dismembered bodies found in black plastic bags at the back a car in the south-central state of Oaxaca on 20 November. Other victims included a 22-year-old beauty queen and two soldiers, among five killed in a shootout between suspected criminals and troops in the north-western state of Sinaloa on 24 November. Susana Florez - titled Sinaloa Woman 2012 - died in a gun battle that began when suspects fired on an army patrol in El Palmar de los Leal in the Mocorito district; her boyfriend was one of gunmen and also died, Proceso reported on 26 November.