Terrified young children, teachers, and parents in the Mexican state of Chiapas were forced to hide under their school desks while cartel gunmen clashed outside in a fierce shootout. The intense fighting comes as rival drug cartels continue to fight for control of Mexico’s southern border.
The shootout occurred outside of the Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez school in Benemerito de Las Americas, Chiapas, Mexico’s Proceso reported. A video shared by local journalists captured the moment when a large group of gunmen jumped out of trucks and began shooting down the street at their rivals.
The video then cuts to a scene inside a school office where school employees and parents are huddled next to the walls and desks while a large-scale gun battle can be heard outside.
In the short video, a woman tells a young girl, “Don’t cry … come here.” The recording also captures the scene as a man carries a young girl and places her behind a metal desk.
The shootout was just one of a long string of shootouts that have been taking place during the week in Chiapas, where smaller criminal organizations such as Los Machetes, aligned with either the Sinaloa Cartel or Cartel Jalisco New Generation, have been waging a fierce turf war. The fighting is due to the control of drug trafficking routes into Mexico since the jungles of Chiapas have numerous clandestine airstrips used by drug traffickers to move shipments of cocaine.
Despite rhetoric about restoring peace and ending impunity from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, military and police officials have been highly ineffective in stopping the fighting.
Local journalists and human rights groups reported cases of forced conscription by drug cartels specifically targeting young males. Additionally, the residents of several small communities in Chiapas have been forced to flee their homes due to the spreading violence.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.