Mexico City.- A small community in southern Mexico has been wracked by violence, under attack from drug cartel drones and gunmen, a human rights group told The Associated Press today.
The cartels attacked at least 30 people in the town of Buenavista de los Hurtado in the southern state of Guerrero on Thursday, according to local religious human rights organization Centro Minerva Bello. José Filiberto Velázquez, the center’s director, indicated that it was possible that the victims were murdered.
Officials did not provide details or specify whether there were injuries or deaths in the incident. Guerrero’s Secretary of Public Security reported today in a statement on his account on Social Network X, earlier on Twitter, that after receiving civilian reports of attacks, security tours are being carried out in the area.
The municipality of General Halidoro Castillo, on the outskirts of Tlacotepec, is caught in the middle of an escalating war between the Familia Michocana and Jalisco Nueva Generation cartels.
Velazquez said drone attacks by cartels and violence have been on the rise in the past year, which he warned officials about.
The activist said he learned of the incidents from the community, which informed him that some members of the Familia Michocana were launching “explosive devices” from drones around noon on Thursday. But community communication soon died.
Hours later, local police informed the activist that one survivor of the attack had escaped and reported that, after the drone attack, armed men came into the community while residents were slaughtering pigs and “they were shot there.”
The center’s director also spoke to residents of nearby communities who said they had heard the attack and feared the same thing could happen to them.
“It’s a conflict in which many communities are in terror,” Velazquez said.
The activist pointed out that neither human rights organizations nor authorities could enter the small town, both because of its remoteness and dangers. Therefore, little was known about the attack.
The Guerrero state prosecutor’s office told the AP it could not provide further information.
