Mexicans lynch suspect after murder of girl
Neighbours’ fury as three held on suspicion of killing eight-year-old child after alleged ransom attempt
RESIDENTS of a Mexican town have lynched a woman who they believed was involved in the murder of an eightyear-old after police arrested three people on suspicion of involvement in the child’s murder.
The girl disappeared from the tourist town of Taxco on Wednesday of last week and her body was found on a highway the next day.
The child appeared to be the victim of a kidnapping for ransom following reports that her family had received anonymous telephone calls demanding money.
Locals immediately suspected a man and a woman of being behind the crime after the emergence of security footage apparently showing them loading a black bag, thought to contain the child’s body, into the boot of a car.
On Thursday, residents blocked one of the main streets of Taxco and gathered to demand justice outside a house where the woman and two men were located. They dragged out the trio, doused them in gasoline and beat them with sticks. Video footage shows dozens of people kicking and punching a woman who is wearing nothing but a pair of blue jeans.
Her body then goes limp as she is left lying in the street, her face obscured by a mass of hair and blood.
In another video, a man is seen being yanked from the custody of police by a mob.
The vigilantes pull the man from the back of an official police truck and throw him to the floor. People then take it in turns to kick and punch him with virtually no resistance from police.
The woman died and the two men were taken to hospital.
Yesterday, Guerrero state prosecutors said a man and a minor were arrested on Saturday “for the crime of femicide” along with another man the day before who was held on similar charges. They did not clarify whether those arrests involved the men who were attacked by the mob.
Last Friday, Evelyn Salgado, the governor of Guerrero, wrote on social media: “My solidarity is with the family [of the minor], the future is not understood without justice.”
Two hours from Mexico City, the silver mining town of Taxco is popular among tourists for its cobbled streets and centuries-old architecture.
Old VW beetles ply the roads as taxis, while rising up in the centre is the beautiful, peach-coloured Santa Prisca church. Yet the town’s magical appearance belies its reputation for crime.
In January, the United States banned its government employees from visiting the city. It came as a days-long strike continued by private taxi and van drivers who suffered threats from one of several drug gangs fighting for control of the area. The situation was so bad that police had to give people rides in the back of their patrol vehicles.
Around the same time, the bulletridden bodies of two detectives were found on the outskirts of Taxco.
Local media said their bodies showed signs of torture.
Last November, five people disappeared from the town, including three journalists who were later freed unharmed.
Kidnappings and murders are daily occurrences in Mexico, although adult men are the most common victims, making the young girl’s death particularly shocking. There are also regular lynchings of alleged criminals, which experts link to the widespread perception of lawbreakers acting with impunity. A report by researchers at the Autonomous University of Mexico found that 1,423 lynchings were recorded between 2016 and 2022.
One member of last Thursday’s mob said: “This is the result of the bad government we have.”
Referring to the murder of the child, she said that “this isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened, but this is the first time the people have done something”.
She added: “We are fed up. This time it was an eight-year-old girl.”
Mario Figueroa, the mayor of Taxco, whose own bulletproof car was shot up by gunmen on motorcycles in February, said he shared residents’ outrage over the killing, adding that his small, outnumbered municipal police force has not received the help it needs from the state government.
‘This isn’t the first time this has happened ... this is the first time the people have done something’