Gang Members Killed By Mexican Army After They Surrendered: Witness Report Elyssa Pachico - InSight Crime
go to original September 19, 2014

A mother who asked not to be identified displays this photo of her slain 15-year-old daughter. Mexican Army soldiers killed 22 alleged gang members after they surrendered and were disarmed, the woman says. (Eduardo Castillo/AP)

A survivor of a gun battle that left 22 civilians dead earlier this year stated that the Mexican military killed those involved in the confrontation after they had surrendered, reigniting questions over the army's use of force and the militarization of the drug war.

The survivor, under the alias "Julia," told Esquire Mexico that the military were the first to open fire on a warehouse in Mexico state, where - according to government accounts - nearly two dozen members of a criminal group were staying. Esquire reported that revealing what Julia was doing in the warehouse would put her in danger, but did not give this information in the article.

According to Julia, several young men in the warehouse tied her up, along with two other women, then told them to pretend they had been kidnapped. Several people in the warehouse fired back at the armed forces before surrendering, Julia said. The military then proceeded to gun down 22 people, including a 15-year-old girl, and later altered the scene by repositioning several bodies, she said. Only Julia and the other women survived.

Julia was kept in custody for a week, during which time officials from the Marines, the state attorney general office, and the organized crime unit of the federal Attorney General's office all pressured her to say that those killed were criminals, she said.

After this gun battle, which took place on June 30, authorities stated that those killed were members of the Guerreros Unidos criminal group, and that the military had "rescued" three kidnapped women. However, Human Rights Watch called on authorities to "properly consider evidence of wrongful state action" when investigating the incident. An Associated Press report from the scene of the killing said there was "little evidence of sustained fighting," and that there were few bullet holes in the warehouse walls where soldiers would have fired upon the civilians from outside.

Read the rest at InSight Crime

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