Outrage and pain: funeral images in Mexico after the massacre of an anniversary where 14 people were killed

Tears, indignation and pain. Thus the inhabitants of the Mexican city of Minatitlán lived the funeral of 14 people, including a baby shot at a birthday party in the state of Veracruz.

Prayers and funeral music They echoed in the cemeteries, guarded by a powerful security device while police and soldiers followed the murderers by air and land.

According to a police report, many victims received numerous gunshot wounds and at least seven were shot in the head. AFP he had access.

The line of research focuses on "a possible act of revenge between two criminal groups "in Veracruz, said Monday the Attorney General Jorge Winckler at a press conference.

The attack occurred Friday night when armed individuals broke into a village hall where about 50 people celebrated their wife's birthday. After asking someone named Julio César González, the aggressors opened fire and killed Seven men, five women and a baby.

In this context and mid-weekend of new record of violence in Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador regretted what happened and said that he would strengthen "his action with more elements of the Navy and Army Secretariat of the 39, state of Veracruz ".

In the first quarter of the year, 8,493 voluntary homicides, an increase of 9.60% over 7,750 homicides recorded during the same period in 2018. This year ended on 33,518 murders, the highest figure since the beginning of the recording in 1997.

"Angry and sad"

César Hernández and his son, Santiago, one year old, were among the most moving funerals. The man was a recognized baseball coach in the minor leagues, and was honored at the stage where he trained dozens of children.

"We are angry and sad, he was a great person, a great human being, and then the way they snatched it from us", lamented one of the organizers of the event who did not want to give his name.

Little Santiago has been placed in the arms of his father, both in the same coffin.

"Pope he tried to protect him in his armsHe wanted to save his life, but he could not, "said one of the funeral badistants, who was killed by a bullet in the carotid vein, according to the police report.

Many uniforms have followed the funeral of Julio César González. In a statement, the public security secretariat said that the attackers were targeting transgender person, apparently the owner of a gay bar and very popular in the city.

Attorney Winckler explained that in this bar, he "had stopped selling drugs to a group of" drug dealers "and that he had to take revenge", realizing that the establishment was selling narcotics to the rival cartel.

Power, blood and fire

In Veracruz, a state that spans the entire Gulf of Mexico, the cartels of The Zetas and their rivals in Jalisco New Generation they are fighting a war with blood and fire for the control of drug routes and fuel theft.

On March 16, in an act of intimidation, members of Jalisco New generation They arrived armed with a convoy of at least 40 trucks to set them on fire near Minatitlán, an oil town.

Last November, also in Minatitlán, five people were killed at a party that celebrated a wedding anniversary.

Since the end of 2006, the Mexican government has maintained a controversial and intense military offensive to deal with the Mafias. Since then, about 250,000 people have been killed (according to official data that do not specify how many of these victims are related to the fight against criminals). In addition, more than 40,000 people are missing.