Prosecutor investigating vigilante justice group who kidnapped 21 people and torched a village is EXECUTED in southern Mexico
Gregorio PĂ©rez, a prosecutor for the State Attorney General's Office in Chiapas, Mexico, was executed inside his car Tuesday night. He was assigned to the investigation of a string violent incidents in July that involved a vigilante group reportedly protecting the Indigenous town of PantelhĂł from the incursion of drug traffickers
A prosecutor investigating a string violent incidents involving a vigilante group protecting an indigenous town from drug traffickers was executed in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas.
Gregorio Pérez was found shot dead while he was sitting in his car two blocks away from his office in the state capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, late Tuesday.
His body had six bullet wounds, the Attorney General's Office for the state of Chiapas said.
The office did not say whether PĂ©rez's death may have been linked to his work in the township of PantelhĂł, where a group of self-described vigilantes has been fighting what it claims are drug traffickers.
Authorities had not announced any arrests as of Friday.
PĂ©rez was assigned to investigate the July 28 incident in which hundreds of fighters with the newly formed vigilante group called 'El Machete,' descended on the village of Pantelho.
They were in search of hitmen linked to Los Herrera before they torched vehicles, 12 homes, vandalized the town hall and abducted 21 people - all of whom were allegedly tied to Los Herrera.
Prosecutor Gregorio Pérez was shot dead inside his car in the Chiapas capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez on Tuesday
The self-defense group Los Machetes present themselves before members of 86 communities in the Chiapas municipality of PantelhĂł, on July 18. 'El Machete' has formed armed brigades, pledging to fight the incursion of drug cartels in the largely Indigenous mountain villages of Chiapas
Residents and members of the new self-defense group known as 'El Machete' hold an assembly where they decide to expel members of drug gangs and municipal authorities during a protest against the growing violence in PantelhĂł, an Indigenous city in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas
The kidnapped residents were taken to San José Buena Vista Tercero, the community where the vigilante group is allegedly based.
'We know that you already have knowledge of all of this,' one self-defense force member read from a statement directed at Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
'If you still want to support us, the indigenous people, … that will be up to you. If you don't, it's better that you don't keep intervening in PantelhĂł,' he said.
According to the the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Centre, nearly 3,000 people in the area have had to abandon their homes in recent months due to incursions by criminal groups seeking to take over the territory.
An alleged member of 'El Machete,' a vigilante group that formed armed brigades in July and pledged to fight the incursion of drug cartels in the largely Indigenous mountain communities of Chiapas, Mexico
Forensic experts canvass the area where the prosecutor Gregorio PĂ©rez was murdered
Residents and members of the new self-defense group known as 'El Machete' gathered for a meeting on July 27 in PantelhĂł, an Indigenous city in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas
Many tens of thousands of people have been killed or disappeared in Mexico since the government embarked on a 'war on drugs' in 2006.
About 370 people who had fled the confrontations returned to villages in the township on August 5, according to Reverend Marcelo PĂ©rez. He said the villagers had agreed to return after government-sponsored peace talks began.
'El Machete,' has formed armed brigades, pledging to fight the incursion of drug cartels in the largely Indigenous mountain communities of Chiapas.
One of the 12 homes that were torched by vigilante group El Machete in late July
Tzotzil Indigenous people who had been displaced as a result of the recent violence between a self-defense group called the 'El Machete' and alleged criminal gangs, attend a Mass on their return home August 4
Members of the new self-defense group called 'El Machete', that intends to combat criminal groups in the San Jose Tercero indigenous Tzotzil community, parade during their presentation in the municipality of PantelhĂł on July 18
The vigilantes, who appear to include members of the Tzotzil Indigenous group, are calling themselves a 'self-defense force,' a phenomenon seen for years in some western Mexican states.
After El Machete announced its presence last month, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would not accept the presence of the so-called self-defense forces, which have often themselves been allied with criminal gangs.
The vigilantes, who appear to include members of the Tzotzil Indigenous group, are calling themselves a 'self-defense force,' a phenomenon seen for years in some western Mexican states.
After El Machete announced its presence last month, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would not accept the presence of the so-called self-defense forces, which have often themselves been allied with criminal gangs.