Mexican Mayor and 19 Others Killed in Town Hall Shooting

San Miguel Totolapan, the town where the massacre occurred, is situated within the Tierra Caliente (pictured above), a region affected by high rates of violence (Wikimedia Commons).

An unknown number of gunmen opened fire on a town hall in San Miguel Totolapan, Mexico on October, 6, killing the town’s mayor, Conrado Mendoza, his father, who was the former mayor, and 19 others. Public officials, as well as civilians, were among those killed and injured. Officials have not named a perpetrator or stated how many gunmen entered the building. 

San Miguel Totolapan is located within the Tierra Caliente, one of the most violent regions in the country. The region is associated with the Pacific Corridor, a contested drug running route, and the growing of marijuana and opium poppies. Various gangs fight for the territory, most notably Los Tequileros and La Familia Michoacana.

Some local officials have stated that Los Tequileros are the likely suspects. This gang is connected to the Jalisco drug cartel, and are known in the state of Guerrero for kidnapping, extortion, drug activities, and the murder of three dozen high ranking officials prior to 2018. After the death of their leader, Raybel Jacobo de Almonte in a shootout with police in 2018, their power diminished significantly. However, just days before the attack, members of Los Tequileros posted a video on social media claiming that they would make a return to power, leaving some to think that this attack inaugurated this return. 

Other officials stated that La Familia Michoacana is more likely to be behind the attack. Such accusations are complicated by one of La Familia Michoacana’s leaders, José Alfredo Hurtado, who asserted that he was the intended target of the attack. Hurtado claims that he planned to attend the event with Mendoza’s father, but was in a bullet proof car when shots were fired and left immediately. He thinks he was targeted for his cooperation with the elder Mayor Mendoza in fighting Los Tequileros. 

Both gangs are deeply integrated in the town and its politics, complicating the reliability and viability of an investigation. Despite Hurtado’s statement that he was an ally of the Mendoza family, the elder Mendoza was spotted drinking with Los Tequileros leader Almonte in 2015. Further details of the meeting were never confirmed. 

Regardless of the perpetrators’ identities, the younger Mendoza is the 94th sitting mayor assassinated in Mexico since 2000 and the 18th mayor killed during President Andrés Manual López Obrador’s administration. After word of the attack reached federal authorities, soldiers were deployed to the area to search for the gunmen.  This rapid deployment of troops indicates increasing security concerns in the country.