In less than two months, two prison wardens have been brutally gunned down in the state of Veracruz: Antonio Huesca Figueroa, of the Tuxpan prison, was shot to death inside his car in the city center; and René Vergara, of the La Toma prison in Córdoba, was tailed from his home and riddled with bullets on the highway.
A riot at the Tuxpan prison left nine people dead, and more than 25 murders have been recorded in the northern part of the state during the first two weeks of August alone. Entire neighborhoods in Poza Rica, Tuxpan, and Álamo are under curfew.
The war between two criminal groups, Grupo Sombra and the CJNG, has turned into a massacre. Earlier this month, hitmen left six dismembered bodies on the Tuxpan-Cazones highway, accompanied by a message accusing local authorities of protecting CJNG cells.
The extortion racket has become unsustainable: criminals have established a “fee schedule” ranging from 1,200 to 1,600 pesos a month for taxi drivers, 1,500 to 2,000 for shopkeepers, and over 35,000 pesos for business owners.
Some hitmen collect payments on Mondays, others on Wednesdays. Retired teacher Irma Hernández was murdered, and a taxi drivers’ union leader is missing; their families were threatened to prevent them from reporting the crimes.
Meanwhile, the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Secretariat of Public Security appear indifferent or overwhelmed, and the federal government has deployed a mere 300 personnel to cover a region comprising ten municipalities. The “Fourth Transformation” promise—”Hugs, not bullets”—has already been broken: since Morena took power in Veracruz, the homicide toll has surpassed 12,000. Veracruz is in flames, yet the authorities look the other way.
Source: La Opinión de México
