Mexico sends troops to Ciudad Juárez after the deadly confrontation between

The president of Mexico, Andrés López Obrador, ordered the dispatch of several hundred army soldiers to the border city of Juárez after clashes between drug trafficking groups caused 11 deaths among the population.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
14 August 2022 Sunday 14:33
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Mexico sends troops to Ciudad Juárez after the deadly confrontation between

The president of Mexico, Andrés López Obrador, ordered the dispatch of several hundred army soldiers to the border city of Juárez after clashes between drug trafficking groups caused 11 deaths among the population.

The traffickers sowed terror in the population by shooting indiscriminately at passers-by who were in restaurants or shops at the time. They also launched incendiary devices against businesses, in an attack that lasted more than six hours. A four-year-old boy died as a result of the shooting, two more women died in an arson attack and four as a result of gunshots received. In the state prison there was also a riot in which there were shots.

Los Chapos, members of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel formerly led by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, and the local group Los Mexicles clashed in a jail on Thursday afternoon, Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía said. Then a riot broke out, leaving two shot dead and four wounded with gunshot wounds, the politician said alongside Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a regular news conference. Another 16 were wounded in the fighting, he said. Officials did not give details of what caused the confrontation.

Following the riots, Mexicals rampaged through the city, authorities said, killing nine civilians. Among them were four employees of a radio station, including an announcer, Mejia said. Across town, convenience stores were shot at and set on fire. Femsa, the parent company of the Oxxo chain, said in a statement that one of its employees and a woman applying for work were killed in the violence.

Around one o'clock in the morning on Friday, six suspected members of Mexicles were arrested by local police, with the help of the Army and the National Guard. On Friday afternoon, some 300 Army soldiers arrived in the city, with another 300 to follow.

"The mayor of Juárez, Cruz Pérez, has made it known that the city is now in a state of calm; public order has been restored," Mejía said. "We hope it doesn't happen again, because innocent people were attacked," López Obrador said.

The attacks on Thursday were followed by clashes between the cartels and the army in central Mexico, which caused taxis, buses and a score of Oxxo stores to be set on fire, López Obrador said. "We shouldn't, and can't, get used to this type of event," said retail group Antad, "Mexico doesn't deserve it."

The Undersecretary of Security, Ricardo Mejía, explained this Friday that it all started with a battle between two gangs, supported by the big cartels in the state prison. Around 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, a group known as the Mexicles attacked another called Los Chapos. There were 20 wounded, four of them by firearm shots, the rest by beatings, and two shot to death. The fight inside the prison spread hours later to the streets of the city and the Mexicles, according to official information, were responsible for setting fire to a dozen businesses, gas stations using Molotov cocktails, in addition to shooting at point-blank range against the population.

During the six hours of hell that the city experienced, its population watched as the criminals walked around with rifles and bombs without an authority being able to stop them. It was at 1 a.m. local time, at 2 a.m. in the center of the country, when the Municipal Police arrested six alleged aggressors, identified as gunmen from the Los Mexicles group, Mejía reported. "Order has been restored, although the persecution of more aggressors continues," explained the undersecretary.

“I deeply regret the loss of human lives in this heinous event against Ciudad Juárez,” Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said in a Twitter message Thursday night. ”I condemn the violent acts that occurred this afternoon. I reiterate my commitment to work to the best of my strength and capabilities to guarantee the well-being of Juarenses,” she added. This was the first official statement after six hours of attacks. Shortly before, the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (UACJ) announced the cancellation of classes that Thursday and this Friday it has held them virtually.