A clash between two rival gangs in the violence-torn southwestern state of Guerrero has left 20 dead, including a mayor, and two others wounded.
Guerrero’s State Security Council said on Wednesday gunmen stormed into the town hall of the village of San Miguel Totolapan and opened fire on a meeting the mayor was holding with other officials.
Among those shot dead were Mayor Conrado Mendoza, his father and former Mayor Juan Mendoza, and other local officials, according to a statement from state authorities.
Authorities said a minor was among those killed. Photos and videos shared on social media show City Hall riddled with bullet holes.
“It happened in connection with a dispute between criminal gangs,” said Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía, adding that organized crime groups La Familia Michoacana and Los Tequileros appeared to be involved.
At a press conference alongside President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mejía said an investigation was underway to identify the perpetrators.
Investigators were also working to review 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 mountain community in a region known as Tierra Caliente, one of Mexico’s most conflict-ridden areas.
In 2016, Totolapan locals were so fed up with the tequilero kidnappings that they kidnapped the gang leader’s mother to secure the release of other hostages.
Guerrero Governor Evelyn Salgado said in a news conference the incident was “a clear reflection of the social degradation we have inherited” and vowed to crack down on crime in the state.
Prosecutor Sandra Luz Valdovinos said she was sending 90 police officers to the area.
There were so many casualties that a backhoe was brought to the city’s cemetery to dig graves as residents began burying their dead on Thursday. By noon, two bodies were already buried and 10 more empty pits were waiting.
A procession of about 100 residents, singing hymns, solemnly walked behind a truck carrying the coffin of a man killed in the shooting. As they approached the cemetery, several men lifted the coffin from the truck and took it to the waiting grave. Dozens of soldiers were stationed at the entrance to the city.
There was a record level of homicides during López Obrador’s presidency, with around 750 people killed in Guerrero state alone by August, according to official figures.
He has been criticized by civil society for giving the armed forces more responsibility for internal security, particularly through the creation of a National Guard augmented with military personnel.
Originally intended as a civilian institution to replace the federal police, the President placed the National Guard under Army control. The move has been criticized by domestic political opponents and the United Nations for militarizing public safety and has sparked nationwide protests.