Seven members of the same family shot dead in their home in Mexico

Seven members of the same family have been murdered in Mexico, authorities mentioned Monday, at a time when President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces mounting scrutiny of his safety coverage.

Three girls and 4 males, together with a minor, have been shot at their home in the municipality of Boca del Rio in the japanese state of Veracruz, the prosecutor’s office said. State Attorney General Veronica Hernandez Giadáns mentioned “there will be no impunity.”

They belonged to a single family that ran a series of butcher outlets, a National Guard supply who didn’t need to be named advised AFP.

More than 340,000 individuals have been killed in a spiral of bloodshed since Mexico deployed the military to struggle drug cartels in 2006.

The authorities blames most of the deaths on gangs concerned in crimes together with drug trafficking, gasoline theft, kidnapping and extortion.

Questions about Lopez Obrador’s safety technique have mounted since two Jesuit monks and a tour information have been murdered on June 27 in a church in the northern state of Chihuahua.

On Saturday, a member of the armed forces died throughout an operation in which three alleged drug traffickers have been captured in the northwestern state of Sonora, Lopez Obrador advised reporters Monday.

He defended his safety coverage, which has centered on tackling the root causes of violence, together with poverty.

“We are convinced that violence cannot be confronted with violence,” Lopez Obrador mentioned.

He known as it a “serious mistake” for Mexico to have “declared war on crime” in 2006 beneath then president Felipe Calderon.

Mexican bishops to place pictures of dead monks in church buildings

Mexico’s Roman Catholic Council of Bishops on Monday known as on parishes all through the nation to place pictures of dead nuns and monks in their church buildings this Sunday and to carry lots for all these killed in gang-fueled violence.

The name for particular celebrations all through July got here after the monks and tour information have been killed on June 20. Authorities have recognized a neighborhood gang boss reportedly affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel as the suspect in the these killings. José Noriel Portillo Gil, alias “El Chueco,” is already needed over the homicide of an American vacationer in 2018.

State prosecutors announced a reward of $250,000 for information resulting in the seize of the alleged killer of the monks. The workplace mentioned it was the highest reward supplied in the historical past of the state. The suspect stays at massive.

The council additionally known as on the trustworthy to wish on July 31 for the conversion or redemption of the killers.

Meanwhile, one other priest mentioned he was crushed over the weekend in the violence-plagued western state of Michoacan.

Rev. Mateo Calvillo wrote in an open letter that males travelling in one other car minimize off his automobile, forcing him to cease, and that one of them got here round to his window and beat him savagely. The priest mentioned he knew of no motive for the June 29 assault in the city of Querendaro, saying the man appeared irrational.

On June 24, the Council of Bishops issued an open letter telling the authorities that “it is time to revise the security policies that are failing.”

The two murdered monks – Rev. Javier Campos, 79, and Rev. Joaquín Mora, 80 – had spent a lot of their lives serving Indigenous peoples of the Sierra Tarahumara mountains. The Jesuits have been shot to dying in the small church in the city of Cerocahui.

The church’s Catholic Multimedia Center said seven monks have been murdered beneath the present administration, which took workplace in December 2018, and no less than two dozen beneath the former president, who took workplace in 2012. In 2016, three monks have been killed in only one week in Mexico.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.