Twelve people were killed in an attack by gunmen on a Christmas party in the town of Salvatierra in the north-central Mexican state of Guanajuato
December 17, 2023, 5:03 p.m. ET
• 2 min reading
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Gunmen attacked a Christmas party in the town of Salvatierra in Mexico's north-central Guanajuato state early Sunday, killing a dozen people, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also reported that four other people were killed in a shooting in the city of Salamanca, but did not provide details about the circumstances of that attack.
Local media reported that the victims were leaving an event hall in Salvatierra after a Christmas party known as a “Posada” when they were shot.
Guanajuato has been the scene of bloody turf wars between the Jalisco cartel and local gangs backed by the Sinaloa cartel. The state has long recorded the highest number of homicides in Mexico.
Meanwhile, three men were shot dead and four people were injured in an attack on a bar in the Caribbean coastal town of Tulum on Sunday, authorities said.
Quintana Roo state prosecutors said a preliminary investigation showed the shooting “may have been a dispute over the retail sale of medicines, and for that reason the safety of the public and our visitors was never at risk.”
But gunfights between local drug gangs in Tulum in the past have killed tourists who were caught in the crossfire.
In 2021, two tourists in Tulum – one an Indian-born Californian travel blogger and the other a German – were killed while eating at a restaurant. Apparently they were caught in the crossfire of a shootout between rival drug dealers.
Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory advising travelers to “exercise heightened situational awareness” in Mexico's Caribbean resort towns such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, especially after dark.