HUITZILAC, Mexico — On Tuesday, schools and some businesses in Huitzilac, a town located south of Mexico City, were closed, and the streets appeared deserted. This silence followed a violent incident in which five individuals were murdered, the same street where a previous attack claimed eight lives just eight months ago.
Huitzilac finds itself within a tumultuous region of Morelos state, characterized by rival criminal groups and issues such as illegal logging. The victims were reportedly involved in campaigning for community leadership positions that oversee local resources, including forests, in advance of elections set for March.
On Monday afternoon, a group comprised of four men and one woman from one of the factions vying for these community roles was campaigning door-to-door, which had become routine in recent weeks. Tragically, they were ambushed by assailants in two vehicles on the town’s main street, resulting in their deaths.
“I warned them years ago that participation could lead to serious problems,” lamented Blanca Delgadillo, the mother-in-law of José Cuevas, a farmer who was one of the victims. At 70, Delgadillo expressed concern over the rising violence that has overshadowed the agricultural community, leaving its 20,000 residents living in constant fear.
Mayor César Dávila Díaz, who began his term on January 1, condemned the violence, stating that incidents like this paint a negative picture of the municipality, associating it with hotspots of violence. While he acknowledged the troubling incidents, he denied the involvement of drug cartels and dismissed the idea of any political motivations behind the attacks, leaving the reason for the shooting unclear.
In the aftermath of the attack on Tuesday morning, remnants of blood and five candles could still be seen marking the spot. To bolster security in the area, 200 members of the National Guard were dispatched to assist local and state police with patrols.
A local farmer, José Romero, who resides near the site of the attack, recounted how he was watching television when he heard the gunfire. He remarked that the safety of the town fluctuates significantly based on the presence of security forces; he observed that such violent incidents tend to occur when the National Guard is not stationed there.
A previous incident last May involved an attack on individuals socializing after a soccer match, which had occurred just weeks before the presidential elections in Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum, who secured a decisive victory in that election, inherited a challenging security situation.
Various criminal groups are vying for territory throughout Mexico, aiming to ensure secure routes for smuggling migrants, drugs, and weapons. They are increasingly shifting focus to extorting local communities. Sheinbaum’s administration has demonstrated a greater willingness to confront these criminal organizations compared to her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. However, severe violence continues across many hotspots in the country, particularly as factions of the Sinaloa cartel have engaged in ongoing conflicts in Sinaloa’s capital.
Currently, the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels are battling for control in several states extending from central Michoacan to the southern state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala. Just on Tuesday, dismembered bodies were discovered along a highway in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, prompting the state’s governor to announce the deployment of 180 soldiers to combat escalating violence.
