By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Three men were killed in ongoing drug and gang related violence in southern Chihuahua state, according to Mexican news accounts.
A news account which appeared in the online edition of El Diario de Juarez news daily said that three men were shot to death in two separate incidents.
In Guadalupe y Calvo municipality two men were found shot to death near the village of La Joya Meza.
The victims, identified as Navarrete Agapito Flores, 39, and Daniel Bojorquez Juan Navarrete, were both shot in the chest.
A second dead body was found also in Guadalupe y Calvo municipality, according to a separate news account which appeared on the website of Tiempo news daily.
Guillermo Alfonso Gonzalez Ramos, 56, was dragged out of his residence in the village of Yerbitas in the course of a home invasion by six armed suspects, and taken away along with his Ford Lobo pickup truck. Guillermo Alfonso Gonzalez Ramos, 56, later was found near El Ocote shot to death. He has been shot with a 9mm weapon.
According to a third news account in El Diario de Juarez last Friday August 16th, is the fifth anniversary of the bloody Creel massacre which took the lives of 14 individuals.
On that date a group of armed suspects descended on a gathering of a number of residents who were holding an impromptu block party. Many of the participants were Tarahumara Indians, colloquially known as raramuris. The assault group numbering 12 opened fire on the group, which numbered 25. One of the victims was a one year old infant.
Despite protests from local residents and the Catholic church, the killers have never been brought to justice, according to the news report. Then Chihuahua Governor José Reyes Baeza had detained three men in connection with the massacre, one of whom was subsequently released, while the others had no direct ties to the shooting.
According to the report, the Juarez Drug cartel enforcement wing, La Linea, was responsible for the massacre.
Separately, another news report which appeared in El Diario de Juarez said that certain classes of crime were down in Chihuahua city, the capital of Chihuahua state from, 2012.
According to that news report, director of the Chihuahua city Seguridad Publica Municipal (DSPM), Heliodoro Araiza Reyes Friday said that non-violent burglaries were down with a total for the calender year of 153. A total of seven violent burglaries were reported in July. Also business robberies without violence were below the April, 2013 mark of 90. A total of 79 of those robberies were reported.
A total of 25 carjacking incidents were report with 10 cases of auto theft. A total of 64 violent muggings were reported with 22 robberies without violence.
According to the report, all violent crime is down in Chihuahua city for 2013.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com