Mexico Violence: Family of 6, Including 3 Children, Shot Dead in Chiapas

The violence in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico continues even after the elections, as gunmen killed a family of six, including three children, in a town that has been hit with militia violence and a string of family killings.

The killings happened in the Chiapas town of Pantelho, with the town's mayor, Juan Perez, telling the Associated Press that it was a "massacre" that happened due to two warring militias that are being backed by powerful drug cartels. The two criminal groups are battling for control of the town, according to Perez.

Chiapas has recently become the latest front in Mexico's drug war, as the southern state borders Guatemala is a lucrative route for smuggling not just drugs but migrants heading to the US-Mexico border as well. The two biggest cartels in Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, are the two biggest factions vying for supremacy in the state.

These killings are the latest in a string of mass killings in which hitmen have wiped out entire families in Mexico, with the most prevalent happening in the states of Chiapas and Guanajuato, which borders the United States.

On Sunday, another incident happened where four women and two children were also killed in Guanajuato as a result of bloody gang turf battles. Gunmen allegedly entered a home in the city of Leon and looked for a male family member. When they found out he fled, they killed his family instead.

What made the Guanajuato incident more tragic was that members of the Mexico National Guard were inside that same home just a few minutes before the gunmen arrived and massacred the people inside.

Displaced Chiapas Residents Still Refusing To Go Back Home Amid Mexico Violence

The attack on the family in Chiapas happened as thousands of residents from the town of Tila were displaced after a local gang attacked, shooting up homes and burning down some of them.

Many of the residents remained fearful and are even thinking about relocating to another state, according to ABC News. The attack was reportedly made by a group calling itself the "Autonomos," or Autonomous Ones, which has been linked to various drug trafficking activities in Chiapas.

Mexico Violence Will Just Be One of the Challenges President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum Will Face

With a new president coming, violence in Mexico is expected to be one of President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum's biggest challenges as the cartels continue to terrorize the country.

"Mexico is a country where more than nine out of 10 crimes committed against the population go unpunished," said Stephanie Brewer, Mexico Director at the Washington Office for Latin America (WOLA), during an interview with CNN. "It's a country with low levels of reporting of crimes due largely to distrust in authorities, lack of faith in investigations, which can be very well founded."

In addition, femicide rates in Mexico are still high. Even with the country electing its first female president in Sheinbaum, there is still a long way to go to fix its problem of violence against women.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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