The killings took place in Las Tinajas, Michoacan, where the powerful Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) cartel was fighting local gangs for control of drug routes. “It was a massacre of one group by another,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a regular news conference, expressing his sorrow over the deaths. He blamed criminal gangs in the area for the killings and said a group was on its way to investigate the crime. Seventeen of the dead were men and three women, and officials secured 15 vehicles as part of the investigation, Mitsuakan state prosecutors said in a statement. All the victims were shot and the last of them died on the way to the hospital, authorities said. Four people are being treated for injuries.
Homicide tendencies are not improving
Michoacάνn has long been one of the most illegal areas in Mexico, and last month the United States temporarily suspended avocado shipments from the state following threats from U.S. inspectors. The suspension was lifted later. Gang violence has fueled record levels of homicide since Obrador came to power in late 2018, pledging to pacify the country by adopting a less confrontational approach to tackling organized crime. However, widespread violence continued, and average annual homicides are well on their way to being the highest in any Mexican administration since modern records began. Homicides decreased nationally in the first two months of 2022 compared to the same period last year, but were higher in Mitsuakan, according to official government figures. Las Tinajas is located in the municipality of Zinapecuaro, about 50 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Morelia.
