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A shooting at a bar in southeastern Mexico resulted in seven deaths and five injuries, according to authorities on Sunday. This incident is part of a troubling series of attacks in a country grappling with violence.
The shooting occurred on Saturday night in Villahermosa, located in the state of Tabasco. Following the attack, a manhunt was initiated to apprehend the shooters, as reported by the Secretariat of Security and Civil Protection.
The initial report confirmed five fatalities, but the Tabasco public prosecutor later updated the toll, stating that two more people succumbed to their injuries. The authorities also revealed that the bar where the incident occurred was operating irregularly as a “clandestine establishment.”
Local sources indicated that a group of unidentified gunmen stormed La Casita Azul bar and opened fire on the patrons, leaving numerous casualties on the floor. Surveillance footage is being analyzed, and state and federal authorities are conducting joint patrols to locate the suspects.
In recent months, Tabasco, an area known for its oil industry, has seen a surge in violent crime. Just last month, a prison riot claimed the lives of seven inmates. Another bar shooting in Villahermosa in November left six dead and ten injured.
This follows an attack in Queretaro, central Mexico, in October, where ten people were killed. Similarly, that same weekend, six people lost their lives in a shooting at a bar near Mexico City.
In December, eight people were murdered when gunmen attacked a roadside stand in northern-central Mexico.
Since the Mexican government launched its military crackdown on drug trafficking in 2006, over 450,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence. Despite this, organized crime remains a persistent issue, with gang violence continuing under the leadership of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October.
Sheinbaum has ruled out waging war on the cartels. Instead, she has advocated for intelligence-based strategies aimed at weakening their operations. She also seeks to continue the policies of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, focusing on social investment and crime prevention as ways to address the root causes of violence.
