Nine more bodies were found in a Mexican region devastated by escalating violence – News

Zacatecas is facing an increase in violent acts following the recent capture of criminals, according to authorities.

“The discovery of nine lifeless bodies, which correspond to male individuals, was attended to,” the Zacatecas Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a brief statement, without giving further details.

And “in relation to the events recorded on May 7, in the municipality of Fresnillo, […] It is reported that five victims have been identified and have already been handed over to their families”, the note concludes.

Next to these last bodies were found “messages addressed to an antagonistic group”, said, in turn, the government secretary of the state of Zacatecas, Rodrigo Reyes.

The bodies were abandoned near a market two days after criminal groups blocked roads and burned cargo vehicles in response to the capture of 13 suspected criminals in Fresnillo.

Mexico has recorded around 450,000 homicides and more than 100,000 missing people since, in 2006, the State launched an offensive to combat drugs with military participation.

The lack of security is one of the pillars of the campaign for the June 2 presidential elections. The left-wing coalition candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, leads voting intentions, ahead of the center-right opponent Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez (center-left).

Sheinbaum intends to continue President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s approach, which, according to him, prioritizes attention to the causes of violence, such as poverty and exclusion, to the frontal war against the cartels.

On the other hand, Gálvez promises to capture the major crime leaders and, thus, put an end to the strategy of “hugs, not shots”, as López Obrador called his security policy.