Earlier this month, Mexican authorities in the state of Puebla found an abandoned vehicle along a highway that contained the dismembered bodies of a group of people that had gone on a beach trip to Huatulco, Oaxaca, and never returned home.
The five men and four women reportedly went missing on Feb. 27 after making a vacation trip. Their bodies were found a few days later in the municipality of San José Miahuatlán, Puebla, with officials initially suggesting the murders could be linked to a dispute between criminal organizations in the area.
More than two weeks later, the Oaxaca Attorney General's Office confirmed that the attack has indeed been linked to a criminal group in Tlaxcala. But according to the testimony from one of the survivors, the majority of the beachgoers were part of a criminal group that went to Oaxaca with the intention of committing robberies against banks, ATM's and shopping centers.
As Infobae Mexico reported, a man identified as "L. E. S. V." told authorities that the group had experience committing crimes of that nature in Tlaxcala and that the trip was organized by a man known as "El Jocha," who promised them a place to stay and gave them information about possible targets in the region.
The Oaxaca Attorney General's Office suggests the fact a new group tried to enter territory already controlled by another criminal organization might have motivated the attacks.
In a statement, Oaxaca Attorney General Bernardo Rodríguez Alamilla said officials continue investigating the possible involvement of local law enforcement in the murders. Investigators believe local police officers colluded in the murders after local press reported that Brenda Mariel Salas Moya, one of two survivors of the attack, said she and another victim had left a hostel when they were intercepted by what seemed to be a local police car.
According to Alamilla, state law enforcement searched facilities ran by municipal police officers in Huatulco seeking to find out if firearms used at that police department were linked to the ones used during the attacks. Alamilla told press that during investigations authorities also dismantled a network of 40 surveillance cameras that were illegally installed across Huatulco.
Alamilla said that the case is being followed in coordination with the prosecutors' offices of Tlaxcala and Puebla, and with the support of federal forces, with the aim of "clarifying the facts and ensuring justice for the victims."
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