Mexico: Federal prosecutor murdered in the border state of Tamaulipas

A federal prosecutor was killed Monday in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The local press identified the deceased as Ernesto Vázquez Reyna.

Tamaulipas, located in the northeast of Mexico, is a region plagued by violence linked to organized crime gangs, which fight over lucrative drug, migrant and fuel trafficking routes to the neighboring country. In Tamaulipas operates the Gulf Cartel, designated as foreign terrorist organization by President Trump.

Initial reports from authorities said the van was found on fire on the street, while videos released on social media show a man apparently injured and sitting next to the smoldering vehicle.

"The government of Tamaulipas condemns the crime of the FGR [federal prosecutor's office] delegate in the state," wrote Governor Américo Villarreal. "We sympathize with his family and reiterate our total disposition to cooperate with the federal prosecutor's office and the Mexican government in the search for justice and the construction of peace."

Trade union leader shot to death

Also this Monday, the murder of a union leader, Mario Machuca Sánchez, was reported in the state of Quintana Roo, home to the popular tourist destinations of the Riviera Maya.

The secretary general of the Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC) in Cancún was shot dead while driving his vehicle in the residential area of this city, according to information from the state prosecutor's office.

According to local authorities, the cartels are disputing the drug retail trade, focused on the millions of foreign tourists who visit the region every year, mainly from the United States.

Initial investigations indicate that Machuca Sánchez was attacked by two men traveling on a motorcycle, carrying fast food delivery backpacks, who shot him as he was leaving a parking lot.

"The person died at the scene as a result of injuries caused by firearm," the prosecutor's office detailed in a statement. It added that the first line of investigation into the union leader's crime is "a possible motive related to activities in his work environment," without ruling out other hypotheses.

"We condemn the artful and cowardly deadly attack suffered this Monday, Aug. 4, our comrade and friend," declared the CROC, a union that groups mainly workers in the hotel and service sector in the state. "We ask in the most attentive way to the federal and state authorities to issue instructions to clarify this crime."

New mass grave found

In Guanajuato, in the center of the country, the regional prosecutor's office assured that human remains found in an abandoned house are from 32 corpses.

The dismembered bodies were found in a house in the municipality of Irapuato, as part of an investigation into missing persons. Fifteen of the bodies have already been "fully identified," according to a statement from the Guanajuato prosecutor's office.

The 32 bodies were recovered "in fragmented and complex conditions," the investigating agency added, explaining the difficulties of the identification process that is still progressing. According to local media, the agents found the remains inside plastic bags.

Last May, in another abandoned house, also in Irapuato, the remains of 17 people were found. Earlier in the year, the discovery of the Izaguirre ranch, a forced drug recruitment center where human remains were also found, put the drama of disappearances and mass graves at the center of the national and international agenda.