Armed Robberies and Gunfire Reach Into Mexico City's Hippest Barrios Andrea Noel - VICE News
go to original December 21, 2015

Families of 13 young people kidnapped and killed put up this sign that reads, "What would you do Peña Nieto if they were your children." (Reuters)

Residents of Mexico City's trendiest area are reeling from a spate of armed robberies, and even gunfire in the streets, shattering its reputation as a safe haven in Mexico's wider security crisis.

On Monday night a tree-lined street in the city's Roma neighborhood suddenly lost its tranquility when six armed men ran over to the sidewalk tables of two adjacent bars and robbed dozens. Then, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, locals in the adjacent Colonia Condesa awoke to the sound of gunfire. Police shot multiple rounds at a vehicle, as at least 30 patrol cars lined the typically quiet street, and confused onlookers filmed the scene from above.

It is not yet clear whether the robberies were connected to the police swoop and shooting in which police fatally wounded a 27-year-old man who later died from his injuries. They had nothing to do with the murder, a few days earlier, of a 50-year-old dentist who was shot dead in his office in the Condesa after he reportedly refused to pay 40,000 pesos ($2,341 dollars) in extortion payments.

Violent attacks on bars, gunfights in the streets, and deaths related to extortion are common in many parts of Mexico — including on the outskirts of the capital. But the Roma and the Condesa have long been considered removed from these kinds of violent crime that are more associated with drug war hotspots where cartels run a whole range of criminal rackets that reach far beyond narcotics.

Read the rest at VICE News

Related: Drug Gangs Turn Mexico City into War Zone (teleSUR)

Related: "I Got Mugged in Mexico City, and Going to the Police Just Made Shit Worse." (VICE News)

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