26 killed, dozens injured in fiery attack on bar in southern Mexico

COATZACOALCOS, Mexico - Gang members burst into a bar, blocked all the exits and then started a fire that killed 26 people and injured about a dozen others, Mexican officials said on Wednesday.

Authorities said the attack in the Gulf coast city of Coatzacoalcos late on Tuesday apparently was overseen by a man who had been recently arrested but released.

"The criminals went in, closed the doors, the emergency exits, and set fire to the place," Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at his daily morning news conference.

Veracruz state police said the attack targeted a bar, Bar Caballo Blanco, which advertised "quality, security and service", private rooms for $7.50"all night", "sexy girls" and a pole dance contest.

It is located just off a busy commercial street in Coatzacoalcos, a city whose main industry has long been oil and oil refining.

On Wednesday afternoon, relatives of the victims gathered anxiously outside state prosecutors' offices with photos that could be used to identify their loved ones.

Those who had confirmation sat weeping in plastic chairs.

Vanessa Galindo Blas, 32, said her husband died in the fire. She sat shouting: "He didn't deserve this. Why did they do this to me? I don't want to be here. I want to be with you."

She said her 29-year-old husband, Erick Hernandez Enriquez, worked as the DJ in the bar and left behind three children aged 4, 5 and 10.

"I don't know how to tell my children," Galindo Blas wept, as her sister-in-law, Vanesa Hernandez, held her and sobbed. "He worked honorably for his children. That was the only reason he was in that place."

Among the dead were two Filipino sailors. Ramon Guzman, the agent for the ship Caribe Lisa, said the two men had gone on shore leave after their ship arrived from Houston, and did not return. They were among those confirmed dead at the bar.

"This is the most inhuman thing possible," Lopez Obrador said.

"It is regrettable that organized crime acts in this manner," he said, adding, "It is more regrettable that there may be collusion with authorities."

Lopez Obrador said local prosecutors should be investigated because "the alleged perpetrators had been arrested, but they were freed".

Governor Cuitlahuac Garcia 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.

Garcia said the man had been detained by marines in July, but was released after being turned over to the state prosecutor's office.

"In Veracruz, criminal gangs are no longer tolerated," Garcia wrote of the attack, adding that police, the armed forces and newly formed National Guard are searching for the attackers.

In a statement, Veracruz prosecutors denied having released anyone, saying "La Loca" had indeed been arrested on two occasions but then handed over to federal prosecutors.

Associated Press

(China Daily 08/30/2019 page12)