COATZACOALCOS: At
least 25 people were killed and 11 badly wounded when gunmen burst into a strip
club in eastern Mexico, doused it with gasoline and ignited a raging fire,
officials said yesterday. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador condemned
Tuesday night's "shameful" attack in the city of Coatzacoalcos, and
said federal authorities would investigate evidence that it may have stemmed
from collusion between the state prosecutor's office and organized crime. The
attack is the latest to rock the state of Veracruz, a flashpoint in bloody turf
wars between Mexico's rival drug cartels and a hotbed of political corruption.

Survivors said
gunmen descended on the bar, the Caballo Blanco (White Horse), in a hail of
bullets, blocked the entrances and set the club alight. But because of the loud
reggaeton music pounding inside, many patrons and dancers did not even notice
the attack until the entire bar was in flames, they said. "They arrived in
several vehicles, with rifles and pistols. They threatened the security guards
at the door and took control of the main entrance," one survivor told an
AFP reporter, speaking on condition of anonymity, as frantic family members
rushed to the bar looking for their loved ones.

Veracruz Governor
Cuitlahuac Garcia tweeted that authorities had identified one of the attackers
as Ricardo "N"-Mexican law bars the release of suspects' full
names-adding that he was a repeat offender known as "La Loca"
("The Crazy One"). The suspect was previously arrested last month,
but was released by prosecutors within 48 hours, Garcia said, vowing that
"this vile crime... will not go unpunished." President Lopez Obrador
said federal authorities would investigate why the suspect had been released,
and whether there was a conspiracy between the state prosecutor's office and
organized crime.

"There's a
problem there that needs to be investigated regarding the actions of the
Veracruz prosecutor's office," he told a press conference. "There are
two things going on here: one is this shameful act by organized crime, the most
inhuman thing possible; the other, which is also reprehensible, is a possible
conspiracy with the authorities." "We have to categorically separate organized
crime from the government," added Lopez Obrador, a leftist elected last
year on a stern anti-corruption platform.

Attackers blocked
exits

Veracruz is one
of the most violent states in the country. Its strategic location on the coast
of the Gulf of Mexico makes it a popular route for drug cartels and for human
traffickers bringing undocumented migrants to the United States.

Bloody battles
between warring cartels and gangs frequently erupt in the state. Coatzacoalcos
has been among the cities hardest hit by the violence. The White Horse was one
of the last nightclubs in the once-booming port city of 235,000 people, which
has fallen on hard times along with Mexico's oil industry, of which it was a
hub. Survivors said the bar was bustling when the gunmen burst in. The
attackers blocked the emergency exits, and many of the victims died of smoke
inhalation, authorities said.

The interior of
the bar was wrecked and charred, with chairs overturned and debris littering
the floor. The naked body of a woman who had been mid-routine was sprawled on
the dance floor next to the striptease poles. Outside, anguished relatives
cried and embraced as they waited for news, while soldiers, police and
paramedics worked the scene. "I just want to know if he's OK," said a
mother looking for her son, who was a cleaner at the bar, after searching for
him in vain at local hospitals. "Have you seen my daughter? She was a
dancer," said another.

Hit squads,
corruption

Mexico has been
hit by a wave of violence since declaring war on drugs and deploying the army
to fight its powerful cartels in 2006. Since then, more than 250,000 people
have been murdered, including a record 33,753 last year. The situation in
Veracruz has been particularly grim. Jailed ex-governor Javier Duarte (2010-2016)
is accused of presiding over a rash of corruption and human-rights abuses. Two
former state police chiefs and a string of ex-officials have been charged with
running hit squads that abducted and presumably killed unwanted individuals
during Duarte's administration.- AFP