Monday 31 December 2012

Nine shot dead "at party" outside Medellín

Media reported the assassination of nine people in a country house south of the city of Medellín in northern Colombia on 31 December. Police were investigating the victims' identities but suspected the killings to be related to drug trafficking, RCN La Radio reported. One of the dead was identified as "possibly" a drug trafficker or head of the criminal gang known as the Oficina de Envigado, the broadcaster Caracol reported. The dead were found in a country house in the district of Envigado; neighbours reportedly told police they had heard nothing but the sound of loud music at the house. Several violent crimes were reported around the country in the closing days of 2012. RCN reported the shooting deaths of four people in the south-western city of Cali on 28 December, including of a child or teenager of unspecified age and a boy aged 19. A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the northern city of Bucaramanga on 29 December as he resisted a bid by two thieves to steal his cap, Caracol Radio reported. The same day a man was shot to death in a "public establishment," perhaps a bar, in Cúcuta north-east of Bucaramanga, Caracol reported.

A dozen killed around Mexico

About a dozen people were killed or found dead in recent days in apparent criminal incidents around Mexico. Six of these were found dead in several districts of the central Estado de México on 30 December, Milenio reported. The daily reported a shooting death in Mexico City on 30 December and another late on 29 December in the northern city of Monterrey. That victim was shot dead after armed men burst into a house party; 11 were injured in that attack, Milenio reported. Three were found dead on 28 December in the Sierra Tarahumara, the somewhat lawless countryside of the northern state of Chihuahua, including a 16-year-old apparently shot in the neck. Four others were injured in gun attacks in two different parts of the state that day, Proceso reported. State police separately arrested eight men including a municipal policeman on 28 December in the north-western city of Ciudad Obregón; they were caught while driving with a private arsenal including AK-47 assault rifles, Proceso reported, citing Notimex. Five suspected kidnappers were arrested on 30 December in the north-eastern city of Nuevo Laredo, apparently while planning to kidnap a local businessman who called police to say he had been followed for days. Arms, ammunition and hand-grenades were confiscated from the gang that included a 15-year-old; police said the group confessed to having carried out several kidnappings in the area, Milenio reported.