The remains of 11 individuals—including two children—were found inside a pick-up truck in southern Mexico on Wednesday night.
The vehicle had been abandoned on a highway in Chilpancingo, a city known for its violence. In fact, Chilpancingo’s mayor was beheaded just last month—only a few days after taking the job.
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“They have murdered our mayor of Chilpancingo, Alejandro Arcos, and just three days ago the secretary of this same City Council, Francisco Tapia,” Senator Alejandro Moreno wrote on social media at the time. “They had been in office for less than a week. They were young and honest officials who sought progress for their community. Our condolences and solidarity go out to their families.”
Violence continues to surge throughout the city, with innocent individuals losing their lives to senseless crimes.
While it’s unclear why, exactly, these 11 new victims were killed, authorities are treating the case as a homicide. Their identities remain unknown at this time, and most of the bodies have reportedly been dismembered, per local media.
Chilpancingo is the capital of the southern state of Guerrero—one of Mexico’s most violent states, due in large part to drug trafficking.
Despite government involvement, “More than 450,000 people have been murdered and tens of thousands have gone missing across Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006,” BBC reported.
Mexico’s new president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is set on addressing violent crime—or, at the very least, decreasing its prevalence—throughout the state and Mexico as a whole.
