‘People are afraid’Galvez, an outspoken businesswoman with Indigenous roots, sought to put the focus on the country’s insecurity with a night-time rally in the city of Fresnillo in the violence-wracked state of Zacatecas.She led a candle-lit march through the streets before sharing the stage with a relative of one of Mexico’s more than 100,000 missing persons, holding a minute’s silence for victims of violence.”Here in Fresnillo, as in all of Mexico, people are afraid,” Galvez said, hitting out at Lopez Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots by combating poverty and inequality rather than using military force.”Hugs for criminals are over,” she said.”To have a Mexico without fear, we’re going to restrain the most violent and aggressive criminal organisations in our country,” she added.It was the first of several planned stops in cities considered by their residents to be among the most unsafe in Mexico, to highlight what Galvez says is the government’s failure to tackle spiralling violence.Nearly 450,000 people have been murdered across Mexico since 2006, when then-president Felipe Calderon launched a controversial anti-drug military campaign, according to official figures.Underscoring the challenges facing security forces, a military patrol was ambushed Thursday with explosives while tracking down a criminal group in the western state of Michoacan, leaving four soldiers dead and nine injured, the government said.
Source link
