Gunmen kill 9 US citizens in Mexico

Trump urges joint war on drug cartels, but Lopez Obrador wary of intervention

MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK - Gunmen killed nine women and children in the bloodiest attack on US citizens in Mexico in years, prompting US President Donald Trump to offer to help the neighboring country wipe out drug cartels believed to be behind the ambush.

The victims in Monday's daytime attack at the border of Chihuahua and Sonora states belonged to the Mexican-American LeBaron, Langford, Miller and Johnson families, members of breakaway Mormon communities that settled in northern Mexico's hills and plains decades ago.

Six children and three women were killed. Family members said one child was gunned down while running away. Two of the children killed were less than a year old, they said. The car they were in with their mother was set ablaze.

"When you know there are babies tied in a car seat that are burning because of some twisted evil that's in this world, it's just hard to cope with that," a cousin of the three dead women, Kenny LeBaron, told The New York Times.

David Langford, whose sister Christina died in the attack, said that eight children had survived, including his sister's 7-month-old infant. Several of the children survived after hiding by a tree, and one, about 12 years old, hiked several kilometers to get help, he said.

One of the children who got away had been shot in the leg and the face and was in critical condition, Langford said. He blamed drug cartels in the area for the attack, calling their members "some of the most wicked men on the face of the planet".

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during a Tuesday morning news conference that the region where the attack took place "has been a very violent area for many years".

Mexican Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said the nine, traveling in several SUVs, could have been victims of mistaken identity, given the high number of violent confrontations among warring drug gangs in the area.

All of the dead were US citizens, said Alex LeBaron, a relative, and most also held dual citizenship with Mexico. They were attacked while driving on back roads in a convoy of cars containing the women along with 14 children, he said. Some were headed for Tucson airport to collect relatives.

More needed to be done

Trump has praised Lopez Obrador for combating cartel violence but said more needed to be done.

"This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth," Trump said in a tweet reacting to the massacre.

Later, he and Lopez Obrador spoke by phone, with the US president offering help to ensure the perpetrators face justice.

Before the call, however, Lopez Obrador rejected what he called any foreign government intervention.

Mexico has used its military in a war on drug cartels since 2006.Despite the arrest or killings of leading traffickers, the campaign has not succeeded in reducing drug violence and has led to more killings as criminal groups fight among themselves.

Falko Ernst, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Mexico, said Trump's tweet suggests he may be gearing up to pressure Mexico over security, especially with his campaign under way for reelection in November 2020.

"If he throws in his whole leverage, as we've seen with migration, then there is very little the Mexican government can do to hold its ground," Ernst said.

Northwestern Mexico has been home to small Mormon and Mormon-linked communities of US origin since the late 19th century. The early Mormon settlers in Mexico fled the threat of arrest in the US for practicing polygamy. The practice is observed by a shrinking number of Mormons in Mexico.

Agencies - China Daily

(China Daily 11/07/2019 page11)