This archive report was first published on 2 December 2019.
On November 4, 2019, a group of nine members of a Mormon sect, including three women and six children, were ambushed and killed while traveling in three cars through the state of Sonora, Mexico.
More than a month after the attack, Mexican authorities made their first major move in the investigation, detaining several suspects on Sunday, according to the office of the nation’s attorney general.
The detentions came during a joint operation by members of the Mexican armed forces and intelligence agents, and followed the detention last month of another suspect living in Mexico City, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has struggled to articulate a coherent crime-fighting strategy, and to curb spiraling violence and the immense power of organized crime groups in his first year in office.
Speaking at Mexico City’s central square during a celebration of his first anniversary in office, Mr. López Obrador defended his approach, saying, “The federal executive has undertaken a paradigm shift in security.”
However, the failure to curb violence was highlighted by the massacre, which rose above the usual drumbeat of news about bloodshed in Mexico, in part because the victims were women and children and dual American and Mexican citizens.
At least 21 people were killed during clashes over the weekend between the Mexican police and gunmen in a town in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, highlighting the challenges Mr. López Obrador faces.
