In a town in central Mexico, a drug cartel kidnapped 14 local residents, including four children, in response to an uprising by angry farmers earlier in the month. The farmers in the village of Texcaltitlan and a neighboring hamlet rebelled against cartel extortions and, armed with sickles and hunting rifles, chased down suspected gang members. This resulted in a violent clash, leaving 10 cartel gunmen and four villagers dead.
Prosecutors confirmed that the cartel abducted 14 people, including four children aged 1 1/2 to 14, as well as three policemen, who were taken at a cartel roadblock, and a wounded villager who was seized from a hospital. There is uncertainty about whether the use of the number 14 was symbolic, given that 14 gunmen were killed in the clash and 14 people were subsequently kidnapped.
Head prosecutor José Luis Cervantes of the State of Mexico stated that no ransom demand had been made. However, residents claimed that the Familia Michoacana cartel demanded the leaders of the uprising in exchange for the release of the kidnapped children and adults. Cervantes assured that the villagers involved in the December clash would not face charges because it was considered “legitimate self defense.”
The incident took place in the village of Texcaltitlan, around 80 miles southwest of Mexico City. Video footage revealed the clash where gunmen from the Familia Michoacana cartel wore military-style uniforms and villagers apparently set their bodies and vehicles on fire. This brutal clash highlights the ongoing violence in the region by drug cartels that extort money from businesses and have carried out ambushes and massacres, such as the 2022 massacre of 20 townspeople in the neighboring state of Guerrero.