Mexican authorities have laid the blame for a massacre which was carried out at a centre for drug treatments at the door of the local drug trade. This is just one more example of the violence which has been fuelled by the criminal landscape in the country today.
On the 26th September, the rehabilitation centre in Chihuahua was invaded by 6 armed men who proceeded to slaughter 15 people. According to the State Attorney’s Office in Chihuahua, the Barrio Azteca gang are deemed to have carried out the massacre.
At this stage, security services in Mexico believe that these killings were as a result of a gang turf war between the Mexicles (who have links to the Sinaloa Cartel) and the Barrio Azteca gang with their links to the Juarez Cartel, and sometimes referred to as Los Aztecas. It appears that both of these gangs are vying to control the drug market in their local area.
Barrio Azteca is also suspected by security services in Mexico for being responsible for several attacks in Chihuahua’s bars and nightclubs, with the most recent incident which left 5 people dead, occurring just 4 days before this massacre took place. While the gang is considered to be the Juarez Cartel’s armed wing, in fact over recent years they seem to have gained a lot of autonomy, primarily due to their microtrafficking activities which raise around 50% of its earnings. A reward of as much as $100,000 is now being offered by the FBI for any information which leads to the capture and arrest of Eduardo Ravelo, the gang’s leader.
