In days, over 70 reported killed around Mexico

Eight were reported killed or found dead on 15 January in separate incidents in the Mexican states of Coahuila, Estado de México and Chihuahua. Three of these were employees of the Mexican transport ministry reported as missing on 14 January in the northern city of Torreón in Coahuila; they were found dead the next day, apparently "tortured" before being killed, Proceso reported. The review reported the deaths of 41 people around Mexico between 11 and 14 January, including 19 killed in the capital in the 12-14 period. These apparently were distinct from 21 reported killed on 13-14 January in the northern states of Chihuahua and Nuevo León and Estado de México in central Mexico. Five of the dead here were suspected criminals shot by the army in the district of Cadereyta in Nuevo León, Proceso reported on 14 January. On 13 January two were gunned down while driving in the Caribbean island resort of Cozumel, in the state of Quintana Roo; the local governor promised an immediate inquiry and "zero tolerance" for crime on the island, Proceso reported. The same day a mother and her daugher of unspecified age were found shot dead in the district of Tlahualilo in the northern state of Durango, Proceso reported observing that the incident was amid two days of "extreme" violence in that part of the state. Mexico City's mayor reportedly declared on 13 or 14 January that the 19 killings registered in the capital on 12-14 January were unusual but unrelated to drug cartels, and overall security was "assured" in the city. Miguel Ángel Mancera, speaking in the capital, said authorities were investigating and "the instruction I have given very clearly is that there be no impunity...the important point here is that there will be no impunity." Some of the killings occurred in the districts of Iztapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero, where authorities have pursued a disarmament programme intended to reduce killings, Proceso observed.

A dozen killed around Mexico

About a dozen people were killed or found dead in recent days in apparent criminal incidents around Mexico. Six of these were found dead in several districts of the central Estado de México on 30 December, Milenio reported. The daily reported a shooting death in Mexico City on 30 December and another late on 29 December in the northern city of Monterrey. That victim was shot dead after armed men burst into a house party; 11 were injured in that attack, Milenio reported. Three were found dead on 28 December in the Sierra Tarahumara, the somewhat lawless countryside of the northern state of Chihuahua, including a 16-year-old apparently shot in the neck. Four others were injured in gun attacks in two different parts of the state that day, Proceso reported. State police separately arrested eight men including a municipal policeman on 28 December in the north-western city of Ciudad Obregón; they were caught while driving with a private arsenal including AK-47 assault rifles, Proceso reported, citing Notimex. Five suspected kidnappers were arrested on 30 December in the north-eastern city of Nuevo Laredo, apparently while planning to kidnap a local businessman who called police to say he had been followed for days. Arms, ammunition and hand-grenades were confiscated from the gang that included a 15-year-old; police said the group confessed to having carried out several kidnappings in the area, Milenio reported.

Over 35 shot dead around Mexico

Over 35 were killed in criminal "executions" and shootouts between gunmen and state forces around Mexico in the 19-21 December period. Of these 14 were reported dead on 19-20 December, including a 22-year-old who died in a shootout with the army on 20 December in the northern state of Chihuahua. Five bodies were found that day by a road in the north-central state of San Luis Potosí, with unspecified messages left beside them from one of the drug cartels, Proceso reported. Authorities in the east-coast state of Veracruz declared that troops and police shot dead on 20 December a man identified as Jesús Daniel Vargas Ramírez - El Popeye - head of The Zetas cartel in the district of Cardel or José Cardel in Veracruz, Proceso reported. The website counted at least 22 victims of criminal and related incidents from late 20 to 21 December. These included: 10 people including five teenagers killed in the northern district of Monterrey late on 20 December, and seven or nine shot dead in and around the western resort of Acapulco, including a journalist and a court official. On 21 December, authorities of the northern state of Nuevo León presented eight detainees identified as members of the Zetas cartel thought involved in the murder of 11 policemen including a police chief in 2011, Proceso reported. The state security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano declared that the eight were thought to have kidnapped then executed the police chief of Apodaca and 10 colleagues, in the district of Benito Juárez in April 2011, and were suspects in several murders in 2012. They were detained at an unspecified time in December.

Nineteen or more reported killed in Mexico

At least 19 people were reported shot or found dead around Mexico on 13-14 December in incidents mostly thought related to organized crime and cartels, Proceso reported. These included: two bodies found in the northern city of Coahuila, covered by blankets and with an unspecified message by them signed by Z-40 the head of The Zetas cartel, a policeman shot dead in the north-western district of Otáez in the state of Durango, and three people killed in a shootout in a residential building in the north-central city of Celaya. Nine of the dead were from the north-eastern state of Nuevo León, five of these being shot dead in and at the entrance of a house in the city of Monterrey, Proceso reported. A convict was stabbed to death on 14 December in a prison in the district of Iztapalapa outside Mexico City. This occurred hours before Mexico's Primate Archbishop Cardinal Norberto Rivera was to hold mass at the prison, but apparently did not interrupt preparations for the service held annually in this prison, Milenio reported. A man arrested for killing his wife on 13 December told police he shot her during a row after she would not let him sleep; it was not immediately clear if the shooting had been accidental, Proceso reported on 14 December. Neighbours in the Tláhuac district in Mexico City said the couple were drug users; both apparently had been prosecuted for violent thefts and the victim was on prison leave, the Mexico City chief prosecutor was reported as saying. They argued after returning from a party, when she "turned up the music" and prevented him from going to bed. After her death he fired shots into the air and took a woman and her three children hostage for an unspecified time, before being arrested.

Mayoress sends marines onto streets of Monterrey

Ninety Mexican marines began patrolling downtown Monterrey in northern Mexico on 1 November, in one of the new mayor's first moves to boost the crime-ridden city's security and to enhance, or restore, public trust in local security forces. Residents and drivers were said to have watched in surprise - or admiration - as armed and masked navy troops "slowly drove around" central Monterrey, stopping to inspect suspect vehicles, Guadalajara's 1070 Radio reported. Margarita Arellanes Cervantes, Monterrey's first female mayor since its foundation in 1596, said that day that "we are starting a new phase," even as she urged people to "call and inform" on suspects to help beat crime, Milenio reported on 2 November. She said she hoped people would trust patrols including troops and policemen, in a country where many local policemen are distrusted if not despised, and intermittently dismissed for ties to organized crime. Arellanes, a member of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), was elected mayor in July's general elections. She has vowed the "reconstruction" of Monterrey and vowed "absolute transparency" when taking office on 31 October at a ceremony in the city's theatre; "let me say very clearly, there will be no acts hidden from the law in my government. I shall watch over the absolute transparency of every one of our actions nor tolerate under any circumstance the stain of suspicion or the shadow of corruption," the website Terra cited her as saying. Earlier in October she declared that municipal employees accross the board in Monterrey would have to sit through "confidence" tests, and this seemed to have begun. On 1 November she said 80 city policemen had failed these tests and were expected to leave their posts before December. She also appointed a soldier, Rear-Admiral Augusto Cruz Morales, as the new police chief of Monterrey.

Mexican troops kill, detain suspected gangsters

Six were killed in drug-related violence in three states of Mexico on 26 October, while troops detained a "cell" from The Zetas cartel thought involved in at least 43 killings over a year. Two of the dead were suspected members of The Zetas cartel, shot by troops in the northern city of Monterrey. They were identified as a local boss dubbed El Tío and a presumed associate dubbed El Pollo (Chicken), and were shot as they opened fire when troops told them get out of their car, Proceso reported. Another "suspected criminal" was shot dead by soldiers in Xalapa, in the eastern state of Veracruz; troops also detained four presumed kidnappers and released a man held by them in José Azueta in Veracruz. Police separately presented on 26 October four detainees and suspected members of The Zetas including their head in the northern districts of Guadalupe and Benito Juárez, identified as Miguel Ángel Domínguez Montaño or Micky. He confessed he had taken part in seven executions and ordered dozens more. The four were arrested on 6 October while driving in Guadalupe, Proceso reported. The state prosecutor's office was reported to have ascertained in this time that the four had kidnapped and killed 35 presumed traffickers working with rival gangs, and killed eight kidnap victims for whom ransom had not been paid or who recognized their captors.

Over 20 killed, found dead around Mexico

Twenty two people were killed or found dead in apparent criminal incidents around Mexico on 2 October, including children aged seven and 11 years, Proceso reported, citing information given by police. These included: four suspected criminals killed by police in a shootout in the northern city of Saltillo, four men gunned down in a spa or public bath in the northern city of Monterrey, and the bodies of three men and an 11-year-old girl found in San Martín de Bolaños in the western state of Jalisco. Several bodies were found in cars in different parts of the country. A seven-year-old girl was shot dead, apparently accidentally, in the western city of Guadalajara, and two women had their throats slit in the Benito Juárez district in Estado de México, outside the capital.

Twenty shot, found dead around Mexico

Twenty people were killed in criminal incidents or found dead around Mexico on 29 September, including three policemen and a civil servant's nephew, El Universal and CNN reported that day. In Torreón in the northern state of Coahuila, five suspected criminals died in a shootout with security forces, a state government spokesman declared. "At least" six were killed around Monterrey in the state of Nuevo León, two of them reportedly shot in their car by assassins driving behind them. The nephew of the Health Secretary of the north-western state of Sonora was gunned down late on 28 September in Hermosillo. Three policemen were shot dead on 29 September in San Miguel Teloloapán in the western state of Guerrero, the state prosecutor's office declared. In the north-western city of Aguascalientes, a woman was gunned down as she left the hairdressers. On 30 September, the bodies of three men and a woman who had been shot dead were found in pairs in the districts of Tototlán and Tequila, in the western state of Jalisco. Authorities separately arrested at an unspecified time and place, José Inés Medina Rodríguez, described as a senior operative of the Gulf Cartel in Juárez on the US frontier, El Universal reported on 29 September, citing the Nuevo León Public Security authority.