Mexico's Government Is Brushing Off Report of Another State Massacre of Unarmed Civilians Andrea Noel - VICE News
go to original April 24, 2015

Word emerged this week that Mexican government forces were likely behind a mass killing of civilians in the state of Michoacán, the third extrajudicial massacre by state forces known in Mexico in less than a year.

The government said it would initiate an investigation, but Mexico's former security commissioner for the troubled state called a journalist's report on the massacre "irresponsible."

At least 16 reportedly unarmed civilians were killed during a day-long standoff with federal police on January 6 in Apatzingán, Michoacán. The city is one of many considered a battleground between armed criminal and vigilante groups in Michoacán's "Tierra Caliente" region.

The National Security Commission confirmed that it received a video "in which it is possible to infer presumed acts of use of excessive force and abuse of authority" in the case.

But the story had already been reported in detail by journalist Laura Castellanos, whose article, first published by the news magazine Proceso on Saturday, significantly contradicts the government's initial claim that nine people died that day as a result of "crossfire" with federal police in Apatzingán.

According to the investigative report, witnesses said some of the victims had been shot execution-style while kneeling.

...If fully confirmed, the Apatzingán killings would be the third massacre committed by authorities and officials in Mexico in less than a year. The list of cases has prompted major human-rights organizations and the United Nations to condemn Mexico's record on extrajudicial killings under the term of President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Read the rest at VICE News

Photo: Rebecca Blackwell/AP



A video version of the Apatzingán massacre report. Warning: content is graphic.

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!