Over 50 reported killed, found dead in Mexico over weekend

At least 52 were reported killed or found dead in apparent criminal incidents around Mexico over 12-14 April, media reported. Of these, at least 23 bodies were reported found in the states of Coahuila in northern Mexico, Guerrero on its western coast and Quintana Roo on the Caribbean coast through 13-14 April. These included eight bodies found in Cancún on 14 April and 10 shot in incidents in Torreón in Coahuila, CNN reported. Authorities in Cancún suspected the eight may have been killed in a house gangsters used as a body "dump" where four suspects including a 15-year-old boy were found drinking and taking drugs. They were said detained. The 23 also included the bodies of five men aged 25-35 years, found tied in the district of Atoyac de Álvarez in Guerrero, and apparently totured then executed. A message left by them, signed by one of the cartels the Caballeros Templarios, alleged they were "kidnappers and blackmailers." Atoyac is one of the districts in Guerrero where locals have turned to community policing. The review Proceso separately counted 14 presumed victims of crime for 12 April, and 14 at least appeared to have been shot or found dead on 13 April in the northern states of Durango, Chihuahua and Tamaulipas, Proceso and Milenio reported. The latter group included four dismembered, decapitated bodies found on a road in Tamaulipas on 13 April, Proceso reported, and a woman shot dead and found on 13 April in Ciudad Victoria in Tamaulipas. A note left beside her alleged she was an informant of the Defence Ministry, Proceso reported. Separately, a communiqué issued by Mexican authorities counted 1,101 homicides linked to federal offences in the 31 days of the month of March, which exceeded detentions, Proceso reported on 12 April. Victims included 40 state agents killed during service and 25 civilians thought killed by mistake, a communiqué signed by the interior ministry, the Prosecutor-General's office and the Defence and Navy ministries stated. Its figures were compiled by the National Centre for Planification, Analysis and Information to Combat Crime, CENAP (Centro Nacional de Planeación, Análisis e Información para el Combate a la Delincuencia), a body attached to the office of the Prosecutor-General of Mexico. The authorities stated that over 138,000 kilograms of cocaine were seized that month among other illegal substances, and 957 individuals detained.

Mexican villagers put crime suspects on trial

Some 500 residents of various districts of the western state of Guerrero began on 31 January their own trial of over 50 suspects held in preceding weeks for alleged criminal activities in the surrounding Costa Chica sector, the review Proceso reported. The trial, which state authorities have more or less denounced as illegal, was organized by "community authorities" of the ethnic population of the districts of Florencio Villarreal, Ayutla de los Libres, Tecoanapa and San Marcos, and fruit of a self-defence movement that emerged in early January as residents armed themselves to fight rampant crime. About 250 people attending the first session were armed. They listened to the presentation of the purported defendants in a three-hour event held in hills outside the town of Ayutla; a second session was to be held on 22 February in the district of Tecoanapa, Proceso reported. The gathering also heard members of the Community Police explain the recent history of popular mobilization locally; a founder of the Community Police the priest Mario Campos Hernández, explained that the people was restoring order where the state had failed. He alluded to suspected collusion between some authorities and criminals, which was presented as a cause of this virtual uprising. The head of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG) Bruno Plácido Valerio separately denied that state authorities had retaken control of the district of Ayutla and insisted locals would not disarm until they had eliminated crime locally. It is by no means exceptional in Mexico to suspect collusion between authorities and criminals. Most recently the former mayoress of Lerdo in the northern state of Durango placed a notice in a daily accusing a local leader of her party - the conservative National Action Party (PAN) - of associating with criminals. Maria del Rosario Castro Lozano published her charges in El Sol de Durango against the PAN coordinator in Lerdo, Raúl Villegas Morales. She declared she informed the party's National Executive Committee of this in October 2012 but was ignored, Proceso reported on 30 January. How she asked can "we demand that the...governor" of Durango to "clean the state of traffickers when the head of...the PAN in Lerdo has links?"

Over 160 suspect policemen held in Mexico

Two police chiefs were among 158 policemen and police employees detained on 18 January in two districts of the north-central state of Durango, all suspected of aiding organized crime, the chief prosecutor of Durango announced. Sonia Yadira de la Garza Fragoso said 110 of the detained were district policemen of Lerdo and 48 of Gómez Palacio, Proceso reported. She said that initial questioning indicated the suspects had assisted criminals by means including providing information and protection or directly participating in criminal acts. In the eastern state of Veracruz, state and federal police detained at an unspecified date a gang of six suspected kidnappers including three policemen, involved in crimes in a zone that included Carlos A. Carrillo and Cosamaloapan, the districts where the policemen worked, Proceso reported on 18 January. A Public Security spokesman for Veracruz Ernesto González Quiroz said the public presentation of the criminal policemen showed "there is no space for impunity in Veracruz, and less so for those public servants obligated to protect citizens." The gang reportedly admitted when questioned to taking part in six kidnappings and acts of extortion and drug dealing. The website cited the Veracruz Public Security Secretary, who heads policing in the state, Arturo Bermúdez Zurita as saying on 18 January that some 2,500 policemen had been dismissed in the state since 2010 for failing "confidence" tests. Another official who vowed to crack down on police corruption on 18 January was Mexico's deputy-interior minister for Planning, Manuel Mondragón y Kalb, who appeared that day before the Senate Public Security Committee, Proceso reported. Mondragón, a former police chief of Mexico City, later told the press he would apply "zero tolerance for corruption, however far it goes, whatever the means and whenever it has to happen. I don't care what is said about this. When I fight corruption I will not tolerate or permit it." Mondragón said three "fundamental" sectors - Mexico's 15 federal prisons, the Federal Police and the police data gathering system (Plataforma México) - were currently undergoing operational scrutiny. Mondragón would head the National Public Security Council (CNSP), a policy-making organ, once approved by the Senate.

Ten killed in Mexico, states to boost security

Ten were reported as found dead or gunned down in shootouts and executions around Mexico on 15-16 January. Five of these were killed in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, including two cartel suspects shot by the army in Ciudad Victoria. Two others found dead in that city had a written message by them presumably placed by their assassins, alleging they had earlier kidnapped and murdered an army captain. The army confirmed the officer was buried in Ciudad Victoria on 13 January. A message left by the body of another victim found in Ciudad Victoria on 16 January alleged that he had been killed for thieving; authorities suspected he was killed by the Zetas cartel. Other killings that day occurred in the states of Durango and Estado de México and in the west-coast district of Acapulco, Proceso reported. One of the dead was a 16-year-old found with his throat slit in the Valle de Chalco district in Estado de México. A recent surge in killings in Estado de México in central Mexico, prompted authorities to consider deploying troops in its more crime-ridden districts. On 16 January the state's chief prosecutor Miguel Ángel Contreras Nieto blamed the recent surge on a fight between two criminal groups the Familia Michoacana and Guerreros Unidos; their turf war had killed 25 in the preceding 72 hours he said. While there was no "security crisis" in the state he declared, state and federal authorities were discussing the option of deploying troops, Proceso reported. Separately the governor of the eastern state of Veracruz Javier Duarte de Ochoa said state police would take over security in the Sotavento region in the state and specifically the district of Úrsulo Galván following the disappearance of eight municipal policemen there, Proceso reported on 16 January. He was apparently speaking in Úrsulo Galván, whose authorities have asked the state to take over its security. Duarte said state police would be acting in the framework of the Veracruz Seguro operation that has boosted the presence of state forces including troops around the state of Veracruz. He called on residents in the Sotavento zone to remain calm, while citing the operation's possible expansion to more districts. The Veracruz Seguro plan has so far seen increased police and military presence principally in the Veracruz-Boca del Río conurbation on the coast and in several districts with greater criminal activity.

Around 30 reported killed in Mexico

Just under 30 were provisionally reported as gunned down or found dead around Mexico in the period from the evening of 5 to 8 January. Nine including three policemen were reported killed or found dead on 8 December; three of those including a policeman were found in an advanced state of decomposition in the  district of Durango in the northern state of Durango, Proceso reported. The policeman, from the district of Mezquital in that state, was reported disappeared in mid-December 2012. Two policemen were separately shot dead in the northern city of Saltillo and in Mexico City, while two charred bodies were found in a car in the north-western city of Culiacán, all on 8 January. Proceso reported 19 killings on 5-6 January, most of these occurring early on 6 January. One of the victims, found in the western city of Guadalajara, was identified as belonging to the cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación. Two of his brothers were reported arrested in September 2012. Separately on 8 January three teenagers or children and an adult were detained in the western resort of Acapulco with over 14.5 tonnes of "green weed" thought to be marijuana. Interrogations indicated the four were a local gang led by the adult, a 28-year-old dubbed El Chapito, Milenio reported. Police also detained on 8 January a gang of six including a mother and her 22-year-old son in the northern district of Escobedo, all suspected of drug trafficking and the kidnapping and murder of a taxi driver, Milenio reported.

Killings reported across Mexico end of year

The review Proceso reported 15 or more criminal executions across the country on 30-31 December observing that "the last day of the year ended like the preceding 364 days: drenched in blood." Six of the fatalities were in the central Estado de México, with two people shot to death and four found decapitated. Five were found dead on 30 December in the district of Balleza in the northern state of Chihuahua, while two men were shot dead on 30 or 31 December in the district of Gómez Palacio in the state of Durango, Proceso reported. The website reported gun attacks on police and judiciary installations in Durango on 29-30 December, without casualties. Two gunmen were shot dead by police in the Mesa del Seri locality outside the north-western city of Hermosillo, on 30 or 31 December. In the district of Buenaventura in Chihuahua, members of The Zetas drug cartel recently murdered four women they had kidnapped, throwing their bodies into a ditch, Proceso reported on 31 December, citing declarations by the Chihuahua prosecutor's office. The ditch was found after marines arrested on 30 December four purported Zetas in the northern city of Monclova who also revealed a safe house holding three or four more hostages and an arsenal including assault rifles, hand grenades and ammunition. The hostages told police they too were to be murdered.

Eight reported killed around Mexico, policemen sacked

Eight were reported killed in presumed criminal incidents around Mexico on 17-19 December, including a "Venezuelan model" and two policemen whose bodies were found in a burned vehicle, Proceso reported. The policemen were found in the district of Salvador Escalante in the western state of Michoacán; one of them it was thought could be the police chief of Santa Clara del Cobre, south-west of the city of Morelia in Michoacán. The brother of a prominent local businesswoman was also found dead in a ditch south of Morelia. On 17 December, four suspected kidnappers shot dead a businessman in the locality of Villa Seca outside Toluca de Lerdo in Estado de México, as he resisted being forced into a car. A 24-year-old girl identified as Venezuelan model Daysi Yeniree Ferrer Arenas, was found dead on 18 December in the western city of Guadalajara; she had been shot in the head three times. Authorities raised to 23 the number of deaths from rioting and a failed attempt on 18 December to break out of a prison in the state of Durango. The state's Public Security chief Jesús Antonio Rosso told Milenio newspaper that nine guards and 14 inmates had died in violence that erupted in the prison in Gómez Palacio. On 19 December, 125 policemen in the northern state of Coahuila were relieved of their duties and banned from working in the security sector after failing "confidence tests" designed to establish their probity and professionalism, the state's Public Security chief told Milenio Televisión. Many Mexican policemen have the worst reputation with the public, for suspected corruption and ties to criminals. Gerardo Villarreal said these could not be recruited elsewhere in Mexico and the state would decide whether or not more policemen would be dismissed in 2013.

Over 30 killed in crimes, found dead around Mexico

Crime-related violence continued in Mexico as its president was announcing a planned overhaul of the state's response to organized crime. As if in a country at war, over 35 were killed or found dead around Mexico on 16-18 December, including 17 in a collective bid to break out of a jail. Fifteen of the victims were killed or found dead on or around 18 December, Proceso reported. Among these: a child of seven was one of three - perhaps a family - shot dead while driving on a road near Las Peñitas in the eastern state of Veracruz; two were killed and a child of 13 shot and badly injured in an attack on a house in San Martín Cuauatlalpan in Estado de México outside the capital; the child was taken to hospital. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) representative in Salvador Escalante in the western state of Michoacán was shot dead late on 17 December, at a roadside petrol station. Identified by the state prosecutor's office as Miguel Ángel Farfán Ortega, he became the PRI's mayoral candidate for Salvador Escalante in 2011 after his predecessor was found with guns in his car and presumably dismissed. A "cartel grave" (narcofosa) was found on 17 December outside the northern city of Saltillo; it yielded six bodies described as in advanced state of decomposition, Proceso reported on 18 December. One of the bodies was identified as belonging to an electoral official. The website separately reported a gun and grenade attack in Saltillo late on 17 December, launched on the house of an employee of the state prosecutor's office. Nobody was killed. In Tlalpán south of Mexico City, a man identified as the head of a gang called Los Rojos was killed while confined in a hospital late on 16 December, Proceso reported on 18 December; it added he had fled there from another hospital to which he had been admitted after being injured in an attack. Two gunmen dressed as doctors entered his room and shot him in the chest. A shootout on 18 December between prison guards and inmates - in what appeared to be an attempted mass flight - killed 11 prisoners and six guards in a prison in the northern city of Gómez Palacio. Inmates began shooting at guards in watch-towers in a possible signal to start rioting and allow a subsequent breakout, Proceso and Milenio reported. Proceso observed it was unclear where the inmates' weapons had come from.

Over 30 killed, found dead around Mexico in a day

Thirty two people were reported shot or found dead around Mexico on 28 November, the websites of Milenio and Proceso reported that day, including two policemen. One policeman, reported as kidnapped hours previously, was apparently tortured before he was found hanging from a bridge on the edge of Gómez Palacio in the northern state of Durango. Another police official was shot in his car outside a hospital in the northern city of Chihuahua as he arrived to donate blood to an injured colleague, Milenio reported. In other incidents: in Torreón next to Gómez Palacio the remains of a "mutilated corpse" were found scattered around streets in the city centre. Three men were gunned down in a workshop and a couple shot dead while talking in the street that day, also in Torreón; seven were reported shot dead in different parts of the north-western state of Sinaloa, while a gun fight between gangs killed four participants in the locality of Huitzila north of the western city of Guadalajara. Marines were reported separately to have found on 28 November "at least" nine bodies buried in two ditches near a nature reserve in the west-coast district of Acapulco.

Twenty one reported killed around Mexico in a day

The review Proceso numbered at 21 those reported killed or found dead in Mexico on 26-27 November, mostly victims of drug cartels or of gun fights with security forces. These included a father and his three adult sons shot dead on a road in the Urique district of the northern state of Chihuahua, Proceso reported. In one incident the body parts of three men were left inside and on a car in the northern city of Torreón. In the eastern and western states of Veracruz and Michoacán respectively, the army shot dead eight suspected criminals in gun fights, reportedly responding to gunfire in both cases. Separately, authorities made a public presentation of six policemen held for their presumed role in the execution-style killings on 18 November of eight individuals in the district of Indé in the northern state of Durango, Proceso reported. The victims were relatives of the mayor of Indé Ernesto Núñez Rodríguez and included a pregnant 21-year-old and her four-year-old son. He told investigators that four individuals arrived at his property that day and began shooting at a gathering of 13 people there. Eight of those ran into a cellar where they were shot by two "state policemen" who followed them and who then set fire to the cellar. The mayor said five other relatives including a 15-year-old were still missing after the attack.

Over 27 killed, found dead in Mexico over weekend

Mexico's investigative review Proceso counted 27 presumed victims of crime, either shot or found dead around Mexico on 18 and 19 November, including a five-year-old killed by accident. These included "at least" ten bodies found in two clandestine graves in Zumpango in the western state of Guerrero; police found the graves after they detained and interrogated on 18 November five presumed members of a gang called Los Rojos, in the district of Chilpancingo in Guerrero. A five-year-old boy was shot and killed while travelling in his father's car, caught in crossfire between police and criminals in the northern city of Gómez Palacio. Separately the state government of Nuevo León in northern Mexico announced on 19 November the arrest of a criminal "cell" of 19 or 24 members associated with The Zetas cartel, led by a man and a woman and including five working policemen and five teenagers. Investigators linked the group to "at least" 16 kidnappings, 12 killings and unspecified acts of extortion. Police confiscated items from them including cash, arms, cars, drugs and "planks for torture," Proceso reported, citing the state security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano.

Police chief missing, several killed around Mexico

The police chief of the Pueblo Nuevo district in the north-central state of Durango was reported missing on 16 September - and may have been kidnapped - El Universal reported on 19 September, citing statements by the Durango judiciary. David Barrera González was a policeman for 15 years and the district's police chief for three months. His predecessor was shot dead in late May in the ciy of El Salto in Durango, as reported in newspapers. Around Mexico: a body was found on 17 or 18 September, wrapped in a cloth with a message from cartels in the central city of Zacatecas, the Zacatecas state prosecutor Arturo Nahle García stated. Four bodies were found at unspecified dates in four districts of the state of Morelos south of Mexico City, while four individuals were killed in Acapulco on Mexico's Pacific coast, and one in the northern city of Juárez, El Universal reported on 19 September.