In Huitzilac, a small town in Morelos, Mexico, fear and sorrow gripped the streets on Tuesday after a tragic and brutal attack the day before. Schools and businesses stayed closed, and only a few people dared to step outside. Just hours earlier, five people had been shot and killed on the town’s main street—the same spot where another deadly attack claimed eight lives only eight months ago.
This quiet town, surrounded by forested hills, has become a hotspot for violence due to clashes between criminal groups and issues like illegal logging. The latest victims were part of a group campaigning for positions to manage the community’s shared resources, including the nearby forests. These roles are vital in the local elections scheduled for March, but the competition has turned deadly.
On Monday afternoon, as they had done for weeks, four men and one woman walked door-to-door to rally support for their campaign. But this time, gunmen in two vehicles intercepted them on the main street, shooting them dead.
Blanca Delgadillo, a 70-year-old resident, lost her son-in-law, José Cuevas, in the attack. José, a farmer, had been deeply involved in the campaign. “I told them years ago not to get involved—it always brings trouble,” Blanca said, her voice heavy with grief. Like many in Huitzilac, she believes violence has taken over their once-peaceful farming community, home to around 20,000 people.
The town’s newly elected mayor, César Dávila DÃaz, who has only been in office since January 1, condemned the killings. “This kind of violence gives our town a terrible reputation,” he said. While dismissing claims of drug cartels operating in the area, he admitted he didn’t know what motivated the attack and ruled out a political motive.
On Tuesday morning, five candles flickered on the pavement, marking the spot where the victims fell. Bloodstains were still visible, a grim reminder of the tragedy.
In response to the violence, 200 members of Mexico’s National Guard were deployed to assist local and state police. José Romero, a 53-year-old farmer living near the site of the attack, said he heard the gunshots while watching TV. “Security here is never steady,” he explained. “When the National Guard is around, things are calm. When they’re not, this is what happens.”
This isn’t the first time Huitzilac has experienced such horrors. Just last May, another attack took place after a soccer match, leaving several men dead. That incident happened only two weeks before Mexico’s presidential election.
President Claudia Sheinbaum, who won the election, inherited a tough challenge: tackling the widespread violence plaguing the country. Across Mexico, criminal organizations are locked in fierce battles over territory, not just for smuggling drugs, migrants, and weapons, but also for extorting local communities.
Her administration has taken a stronger stance against these groups than her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. But hotspots of violence stretch from the central state of Michoacán to Chiapas on the southern border with Guatemala. Even in northern states like Sinaloa, factions of the powerful Sinaloa cartel have been at war for months.
The chaos isn’t confined to a few places. On the same day as the Huitzilac attack, body parts from unidentified victims were discovered along a highway in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. That state’s governor announced the arrival of 180 soldiers to combat the escalating violence.
For towns like Huitzilac, the fight for peace feels distant. Residents are left to navigate a fragile existence, hoping that one day, their streets will be safe again.
