Tanhuato de Guerrero, Mexico--Rodolfo Chagoya was about to cut firewood near the El Sol ranch in western Mexico when suddenly, he said, "I heard 'rat-at-at-at!' It was a horrible thing."
The corn farmer said Friday's gunfight that killed 42 criminal suspects and one federal police officer made him even more afraid of working his plot of land in the violent region.
The ranch was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in nearly a decade of drug conflicts in Mexico, with burning vehicles blowing up and assault rifles echoing across corn fields.
The shootout took place in Tanhuato, Michoacan state, near the border with Jalisco. The two states have endured some of the worst violence in the drug war.
This month, a mayoral candidate was assassinated in Yurecuaro, a Michoacan town near Tanhuato ahead of June 7 elections.
The mayor of Tanhuato, Gustavo Garibay, was assassinated by an armed group in March 2014. The municipality's secretary general was also murdered.
In La Barca, a Jalisco municipality bordering the two states, 64 bodies were unearthed from mass graves in 2013.
AFP
