Dozens die after gang members lock up and torch bar in Mexico
AT least 25 people have been killed in a Mexican bar fire that police say was set deliberately by gang members.
Another 13 were injured in the blaze in the Caballo Blanco bar in Coatzacoalcos, a port city in Veracruz, on Tuesday night.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said: “The criminals went in, closed the doors, the emergency exits, and set fire to the place.
Veracruz state police said the attack targeted the Bar Caballo Blanco, although the bar’s name was in English on a sign outside: The White Horse Nightclub.
“This is the most inhuman thing possible,” Mr Lopez Obrador said. “It is regrettable that organised crime acts in this manner,” he said, adding: “It is more regrettable that there may be collusion with authorities.”
Mr Lopez Obrador said local prosecutors should be investigated because “the alleged perpetrators had been arrested, but they were freed”.
Governor Cuitlahuac Garcia
Relatives and friends of the victims embrace each other
identified the chief suspect as a man known as “La Loca” and gave his name as Ricardo “N” because officials no longer give the full names of suspects.
Mr Garcia said the man had been detained by marines in July, but was released after be
ing turned over to the state prosecutor’s office.
“In Veracruz, criminal gangs are no longer tolerated,” Mr Garcia said, adding that police, the armed forces and newly formed National Guard are searching for the attackers.