Mexico mayor among 20 killed in town hall massacre

A conflict between two rival gangs in the violence-plagued southwestern state of Guerrero has left 20 dead, including a local mayor, and two more wounded.

The Guerrero state security council said gunmen burst into the town hall in the village of San Miguel Totolapan on Wednesday and opened fire on a meeting the mayor was holding with other officials.

Among those shot dead were the mayor, Conrado Mendoza, his father and former mayor, Juan Mendoza, and other local officials, according to a statement from state authorities.

A minor was also among those killed, authorities said. Photos and videos shared on social media show the town hall riddled with bullet holes.

“It happened in the context of a dispute between criminal gangs,” deputy security minister Ricardo Mejía said, adding that organised crime groups La Familia Michoacana and Los Tequileros appeared to be involved.

Speaking at a news conference alongside President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mejía said an investigation to find the perpetrators was underway.

Investigators were also working to verify a video in which Los Tequileros appeared to claim responsibility for the killings, he added. Both gangs are involved in drug smuggling, as well as extortion and kidnapping.

San Miguel Totolapan is a geographically large but sparsely populated mountainous township in a region known as Tierra Caliente, one of Mexico’s most conflict-ridden areas.

In 2016, Totolapan locals got so fed up with abductions by the Tequileros that they kidnapped the gang leader’s mother to leverage the release of other hostages.

The governor of Guerrero, Evelyn Salgado, said in a news conference the incident was “a clear reflection of the social decomposition we’ve inherited”, and promised to crack down on crime in the state.

State prosecutor Sandra Luz Valdovinos said she was sending 90 policemen to the surrounding area.

There were so many victims that a backhoe was brought into the town’s cemetery to scoop out graves as residents began burying their dead on Thursday. By midday, two bodies had already been buried and 10 more empty pits stood waiting.

A procession of about 100 residents singing hymns walked solemnly behind a truck carrying the coffin of one man killed in the shooting. Once they neared the cemetery, several men hoisted the coffin out of the truck and walked with it the waiting grave. Dozens of soldiers were posted at the entrance to the town.

There have been record levels of homicides during López Obrador’s presidency, with about 750 people killed in the state of Guerrero alone through August, according to official data.

He has been criticised by civil society for handing increased responsibility for domestic security to the armed forces, particularly through the creation of a National Guard that has been stacked with military personnel.

Originally intended to be a civilian institution, replacing the federal police, the president has moved to place the National Guard under control of the army. The move received criticism from domestic adversaries and the United Nations over the militarisation of public security and sparked protests across the country.