They entered a bar in Mexico and shot dead more than a dozen people

A group of armed men burst into a bar in the city of Salamanca yesterday, in the state of Guanajuato.

Mexico

– and killed at least 15 people. In addition, three men and one woman were taken to a hospital in the area. Victims have not been identified.

This happened at the La Playa Men's Club, located in the western part of the city. The attackers, who had their faces covered, fled aboard a vehicle.

After the violent act, the president

Andrés Manuel López Obrador

He said that he regretted the attack, especially "that they are losing their innocent lives". In addition, the Secretary of Security said: "From the federal government, we will continue to give our full support to the state government in order to restore peace and security in the region".

Ambulances and state police troops traveled to this location, located in a residential and commercial area of ​​the city of Salamanca, which has about 140,000 inhabitants.

The visit of López Obrador and the theft of fuel

The attack took place a few hours after Lopez Obrador's visit to Guanajuato State, where he organized a public event on Friday afternoon. In the act, the president discussed his strategy to fight against fuel theft and said: "I hope that Guanajuato, as the country goes serenely".

The main gas pipeline of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), a state-owned company located in Guanajuato, crosses Salamanca and is one of the areas used for the theft of fuel. Every year, this crime causes the oil company losses of about 3,000 million dollars.

This city is less than 100 km from the municipality of Santa Rosa de Lima, where the police and army led a few days ago an operation against Juan Antonio Yépez, nicknamed "El Marro", who is designated as the alleged chief of a cartel dedicated to the theft of fuel.

Stolen gasoline traffic – commonly known as "huachicol" and costing on average half as much as legally sold fuels – has also triggered a wave of violence against group rivalry.

At the end of January, outside the Salamanca refinery, a vehicle containing a device that appeared to be an explosive and close to a banner attributed to Yepez was found. There, he asked López Obrador to eliminate the military who are fighting the fuel traffickers in the area.

Lopez Obrador, a 65-year-old left-winger who badumed the presidency of the board of directors on December 1, launched an operation against the fuel traffickers at the same time as he ordered the closure of pipelines to prevent their looting resulting in a shortage of gasoline in several states. all the center of the country.

Gasoline was distributed in tankers and pipelines were reopened as surveillance was strengthened.

The violence of the so-called "huachicoleros" is already badimilated by the authorities to that of drug cartels, some of which are also linked to this crime.

According to official figures not specifying the number of cases related to the crime, in Mexico, nearly 250,000 violent deaths have been recorded since December 2006, the year of the launch of a controversial military operation of the fight against drugs. The number of homicides in this country has skyrocketed to 33 334 in 2018, the highest rate recorded since the start of registration in 1997.

Mexico crushed by violence

In addition, clashes took place yesterday between soldiers and suspected criminals in the northern city of Nuevo Laredo, bordering Texas and its environs. There were six dead.

The state security department of Tamaulipas said the first clash took place before dawn on the outskirts of the city. A civilian was killed and police seized weapons, ammunition and high-powered vehicles.

Two hours later, following a second clash, the authorities closed part of the road between Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey. Five armed men were killed and the police recovered weapons, cartridges, bullet-proof vests and vehicles.

The area is controlled by the north-east of the cartel, a division of the armed group Los Zetas. The two organizations have been in conflict since 2014 in Tamaulipas and in other neighboring states.

AP Agency and AFP