Violence continues to ramp up in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, with new killings of civilians amid cartel turf wars.
The latest episode involved two families, whose members were killed in the town of Yuriria. There were six victims, three people from one family and three from another, and included a teenager and a woman, according to state prosecutors.
Town mayor María De Los Ángeles López said the victims were working at a construction site when they were shot. Authorities are still investigating the incident and have not detained any suspects so far.
Other families have also been killed in the past weeks across the country. Last month, other six people were killed in the state after armed attackers entered a home in the city of León and opened fire. And six more, including three children, were killed in the southern state of Chiapas.
Guanajuato has had for years the highest number of homicides in Mexico, as the Jalisco cartel has fought local gangs for assets. CBS News reported that more police officers in the state were shot than in all of the United States: 60.
But escalating violence is not circumscribed to the area. The U.S. State Department published last week a travel advisory for the cities of Matamoros and Reynosa due to recent kidnappings for ransom targeting U.S. citizens and residents.
The U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros continues to receive reports of organized kidnappings occurring on intercity buses departing Reynosa, Tamaulipas and this week, the U.S. Department of State reinstated the need for a Level 4 alert warning people to not travel due to the high crime rates in the area.
United States' authorities detailed that the majority of the kidnappings are taking place at night and intercity buses operated by the transportation company Omnibus are being targeted. They also added that kidnappers are directing attacks to passengers with connections to the U.S., including citizens and residents.
Overall, six Mexican states are currently labelled in the Level 4 - Do Not Travel list (Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Zacatecas and Tamaulipas). The alert for Tamaulipas was made official last month, as kidnappings were already being reported to the U.S. Consulate General in Matamoros.
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