Mexico: 17 shot dead in Christmas Eve wave of violence

Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns.
In Mexico it is possible for a person to get a permit for a .22 caliber pistol or perhaps a .22 caliber rifle or even a 20 guage shotgun. All other caliber weapons are "reserved for the army and police". In other words, it is illegal to own any firearm without a permit and illegal to own any at all except for those small caliber weapons I just mentioned.

So how is it that so many people manage to get themselves shot dead with illegal weapons?

AK-47's, AR-15's, .45, .38 spl and .357 magnum weapons were utilized to gun down 17 people across the country on Christmas Eve, most in Sinaloa and Michoacan. There were also two fragmentation grenades tossed into a bar in Acapulco, only one of which exploded, leaving 11 wounded. One of the wounded, a 30 year old woman, is hospitalized in critical condition.

All of the deaths and woundings were blamed on organized crime. The 17 fresh bodies (well, 2 were burned beyond recognition so they may not qualify as "fresh") brought the total death toll so far this year in gang related murders to 2,198. In Michoacan, alone, there have been 565 executions so far this year, 38 of them police officers.

One of the dead in Culiacan, Sinaloa, was Blanca Yesenia Rincon Martinez, an 18 year-old girl. What did an 18 year-old señorita ever do to deserve to die in a hail of bullets on Christmas Eve? I'm sure her mommy and daddy are asking the same question today.

In Sinaloa, Michoacan and Guerrero there have been 16 decapitations so far this year but that's not counting all of them. The authorities don't count it as an official beheading if they find only the head or only the horseman. They have to find both portions in order to list it (them?) as a decapitation. The drug and kidnapping gangs are more efficient at this than Al Qaeda.


Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made
by Mexican indigenous artists.
Thanks!
Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

TAGS: Oaxaca, Mexico, Oaxaca teachers strike, Pale Horse Galleries, gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, gun control