Gunmen kill pastor, 2 seminarians in Mexico
Pastor Dale Morgan
Gunmen kill pastor, 2 seminarians in Mexico*
The Associated Press
Monday, June 15, 2009; 6:41 PM
ACAPULCO, Mexico -- Gunmen ordered a pastor and two seminarians out of
their vehicle and shot them dead in a drug-plagued region of western
Mexico, authorities said Monday.
The three were killed as they drove through the town of Arcelia in
Guerrero state to nearby Ciudad Altamirano to organize a spiritual retreat.
Erit Montufar, Guerrero's director of investigative police, said no
arrests have been made and no motive has been determined for the
killings, which took place Saturday.
But Christian clergy in Mexico have complained that they are
increasingly the targets of attacks and extortion demands as the nation
wrestles with a wave of drug cartel-fueled violence.
ad_icon
"We have become hostages in this violent confrontations between the drug
cartels living among us," Aguirre Franco said.
The coastal state of Guerrero, which is used by drug traffickers to grow
marijuana and opium poppies, has been mired in drug violence for years.
Also Monday, Mexico's attorney general's office said it charged 51
guards and prison officials, including the director, for their
complicity in the escape of 53 inmates from a jail in Zacatecas state.
Security camera footage showed that guards at the Cieneguillas prison
stood by as an armed gang walked out with the 53 inmates on May 16.
About a dozen of the fugitives are drug cartel suspects.
The office also said it has arrested 9 mid-level military officers and
turned over to them by the army for passing information to the Sinaloa
drug cartel.
President Felipe Calderon has struggled to combat rising drug violence
and corruption, sending 45,000 troops to drug hot spots since taking
office in December 2006. More than 10,800 people have since died in
drug-related incidents.