Mexico, News Briefs
10 Murders A Day In Sinaloa During Holy Week; Drug Violence Puts Vacations On Hold
April 25, 2011 By Andrew OReilly
The city of Mazatlán in the Sinaloa state of Mexico. Photo by ccharmon.
During Holy Week, 81 people were killed in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, according to the state’s attorney general Marco Antonio Higuera Gómez.
Holy Week, or Semana Santa in Spanish, begins on Palm Sunday and ended yesterday with the celebration of Easter.
The Sinaloa Attorney General’s office said that the killings happened throughout the state, despite the implementation of large-scale security operations by state and local authorities in urban and rural areas.
Among those killed during the week’s violence were a policemen, Lorenzo Antonio Nery Medina of Culiacan, and the chief operating officer in Mazatlan, Ochoa Rolando Andres Torres.
Besides stepped up military and police patrols in urban zones, security forces also monitored beaches and other recreation areas in an effort to quell the violence.
In related news, it was reported that many residents of Mexico City abandoned their travel and vacation plans due to the drug-related murders in tourist destinations throughout Mexico.
Holy Week is normally a time when Mexico City clears out as residents take vacations or visit families, but with violence seeping into such traditional vacations hotspots as Acapulco, many have put their plans on hold.
“We had rented a van with friends and neighbors and were going to go to Acapulco,” said Carlos Ortega, an office worker waiting to visit the museum with five companions. “But then several backed out, and with all the kidnappings, we thought it best to wait and see if things improve next year.”
Photo: ccharmon @ Flickr.
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