Screams and cries were prominant amongst the chaos and violence happening in a small town in Guerrero earlier this week. 40 armed men stormed a town and took 7 hostages while robbing others and destroying several homes. The attack on a city named Chacotla was brutal and despite calls made to the local police as well as the army the poor residents of this town were left un aided until the next day and the vicious attackers were free to do as they pleased. On Wednesday, 5 of the 7 kidnapped were found murdered.
The wrecking crew arrived in the town and immediately blocked the main road before starting the search for certain people, sons of Gabriel "El Tigre" Gonzalez, a former resident of the small town. When the searched revealed he was no longer living there, they grabbed the next best thing, his two sons, two nephews and his wife. The offspring were 21 and 16 and the nephews were 22 and 17. One of the family members was able to get away with his daughter but his wife wasent so lucky and became the sixth kidnap victim. The last victim was taken from a neighboring town as the bandits were making their exit.
(part of the convoy before they attacked)
The terrified residents were able to hear the criminals mention that they were from a police task forced named Union of the People and Organizations of Guerrero but the organization later denied having any involvement with the killers.
(one of the bullet riddled houses)
Other names dropped during the attack were that of Isaac Navarette , leader of the Sierra cartel and also Celso Ortega, chief of Los Ardillos. The next day, on Tuesday, kidnappers contacted the relatives of those captured and demanded a total of 1.5 million pesos, roughly 74,000 US. Even though it was later dropped to 1 million pesos for the releases of their family the poor farmers were not able to collect so much in so little time. Luckily , two women were returned by leaving them on an empty road and making them walk for two hours before being found. The men were found hours later, also by the side of the road but left with two bullet holes in each of their heads.
(the small burial ceremony most families missed in fear)
As if this cowardly act of violence wasent enough, during the burials of the deceased relatives started receiving phone calls with more death threats and promised kidnappings to those attending the funerals. Needless to say the funerals were skipped by most people, fearing the threats weren't empty and the danger level being high since the pleads for protection during the burials went unanswered by the local police department.
Now the people of this town are outraged at local, state and federal authorities and demand answers. They are in shock at how helpless they have become and can't believe that they are at the mercy of these heartless criminals, with nothing and nobody to defend them while police sit back and collect paychecks. They feel they are being denied the simple right to be alive. In a gesture that has a "too little too late" feeling behind it, eight trucks packed with federal police showed up to the city and began patrolling. I guess late is better than nothing right? Thanks for reading.
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( research and pictures from borderlandbeat.com)