Mexico: The murder of a feminist is attributed to drug traffickers

A drug cartel is behind the shooting murder of a feminist and a bodyguard in front of the city hall of the port of Guaymas in northern Mexico, authorities reported Sunday.

An attacker was also killed during Thursday’s shooting in this city in the state of Sonora, bordering the United States. He died when the police responded to the shots.

State prosecutor Claudia Contreras reported that at least one hand grenade was also used during the attack, but it apparently hit a vehicle.

It is suspected that the target could have been the Guaymas police chief, based on the threats he had received, Contreras said.

But the deceased were a bodyguard of the police chief and Lucero Marisol, who was participating in a rally in front of the mayor’s office on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

On Thursday, marches and demonstrations were held around the world on the occasion of that day, but apparently the women in Guaymas were attacked simply because they were there, meeting with the mayor and the police chief.

“The aggression was not directed at the feminist demonstration,” declared Contreras.

The official indicated that the attacker was identified post mortem as a 49-year-old windshield wiper.

“This murdered hit man was recruited, also for having addiction problems, by the criminal group,” said Contreras.

Two people – an employee of the city’s press office and another bodyguard – were also injured during the attack.

The shooting occurred a day after state authorities reported the discovery of 14 clandestine graves near Miguel Alemán, a town north of Guaymas.

State prosecutors said the graves contained skeletal remains, some of them charred, and decomposing bodies, but the number of victims could not yet be determined.

Sonora has been the scene of a violent territorial dispute that is believed to involve factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, allies of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, and a group of the fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero.