Mexico: 13 dead after weekend clashes between Cartel del Sur and United Front of Community Police of Guerrero State (FUPCEG) in El Naranjo town
It’s not the coronavirus that is killing people in the mountains of Guerrero, it’s violent gun battles between community vigilantes, police and soldiers and the Cartel del Sur.
Clashes over the weekend in El Naranjo, an agricultural town where poppies grown for opium gum and heroin are a big crop, left burnt-out cars and 13 dead in another wave of extreme violence that has been plaguing the region for years.
Residents say the latest attack began Saturday morning with a gun battle that lasted for hours, punctuated from time to time by the sound of explosions.
On one side, the violent Cartel del Sur, on the other, a group called the United Front of Community Police of Guerrero State (FUPCEG), a grassroots citizens militia of 11,700 fighters who patrol 39 municipalities in Guerrero.