Pemex blast leaves 33 dead, 120 injured
The blast occurred at 3.55 p.m. in the basement of the 54-story Pemex Executive Tower located in the capital’s Anzures neighborhood.
Officials said at least 30 people were trapped in the rubble in the basement. Rescue crews with sniffer dogs were brought in to locate survivors, while around 100 ambulances and three Condor helicopters shipped the wounded to hospital.
President Enrique Peña Nieto and Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera arrived at the scene on Thursday evening.
“I am deeply sorry for the deaths of our fellow workers at Pemex. My condolences to their relatives,” Peña Nieto wrote on Twitter. “At the moment, the priority is to help the injured and protect the physical safety of those who work there.”
Pemex confirmed on Twitter that the explosion had taken place in building B2 of its administrative center, with the blast damaging the ground floor and mezzanine.
“The causes of the explosion are still unknown,” the federal government said in a statement promising “a thorough investigation.”
Nephew of Guadalajara kingpin arrested
Jose Angel Carrasco Coronel, alias “El Changel,” was wounded in a gun battle with the Mexican Army in the municipality of El Espinal in the Sanalona region near the border with Durango.
He and a companion were arrested and then treated in hospital, confirmed General Daniel Velasco Ramirez, who presides over the Fifth Military Region of western and central Mexico. Carrasco will face charges of organized crime and drug trafficking.
Carrasco is thought to have succeeded his uncle as head of the Pacific or Coronel cartel, a rival of the larger Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) and his arrest has left the former gang “looking for a new leader” Velasco said.
His arrest caused a “restructuring in the criminal organizations” that operate in the region, which explains the recent upturn in violence along the borders of Jalisco, Zacatecas and Nayarit, Velasco added.
“We confirm that there is a struggle between the Coronel cartel, supported by the Knights Templar and the Gulf Cartel, against the Jalisco Cartel,” Jalisco police chief Luis Carlos Najera said this week.
Among the disturbances reported across the region this week, the police chief in the Jalisco municipality of Hostotipaquillo was shot dead on Tuesday, while the Army was sent to reinforce the municipality of Cihuatlan after reports of a clash between rival gangs near the Jalisco/Colima border on Wednesday night.
The same night, criminal gangs set fire to vehicles and blockaded at least three highways in Michoacan near the border with Jalisco. The narcobloqueos took place in the municipalities of Buenavista Tomatlan and Tepalcatepec, with initial police reports speculating that they were set up to prevent the advance of rival gangs from Jalisco into Michoacan.
Much of the ongoing conflict in and around Jalisco dates back to the killing of Ignacio Coronel in a military raid on his home in Zapopan in July 2010.
“Nacho” Coronel had previously controlled the state in alliance with Mexico’s most powerful drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the head of the Sinaloa Federation. His death created a power vacuum in Guadalajara and Jalisco, leading to a bloody turf war between rival splinter groups.
The day after Coronel’s death, another of his nephews, Mario Carrasco Coronel, was killed in a second military raid in Zapopan. His niece is married to former ally and fugitive billionaire “El Chapo” Guzman.
Missing band members found dead in a well
The bodies of 14 missing musicians were among 17 corpses found in a well in Nuevo Leon this week.
The dead have been identified as musicians and crew members of the band Kombo Kolombia, who were kidnapped by ten armed men after performing at a ranch in the town of Hidalgo last Thursday night.
Police said one of the band members escaped from the kidnappers and led them to the well where the others had been buried. The bodies showed bullet wounds and signs of torture, while the escapee had also been beaten but was said to be in a stable condition.
The motive for the attack is unclear, but it it thought one survivor may have been allowed to escape in order to notify the police and the media of the victims’ fate.
Being a professional musician can be a risky occupation in Mexico, with drug gangs having murdered a number of artists in recent years. Those most commonly targeted are singers of drug ballads known as “narcocorridos,” norteño or banda style songs which celebrate the exploits of famous drug lords.
One of the most infamous cases in recent years was the killing of Valentin Elizalde, who wrote narcocorridos eulogizing the likes of Juarez Cartel boss Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.
He was murdered by an alleged member of the Zetas cartel after performing a provocative song entitled “To My Enemies” at a concert in Reynos, Tamaulipas in 2006.
The following year, K-Paz de la Sierra singer Sergio Gomez was kidnapped after a concert in Michoacan, with his tortured and strangled body found several days later.
Then in 2010, narcocorrdio singer Sergio “El Shaka” Vega was shot dead on his way to a perform at a village festival in Sinaloa. The killing occurred just hours after Vega had denied online rumors of his death.
Unlike these artists, Kombo Kolombia played Colombian-style cumbia and did not perform narcocorridos. However, they were known for playing regularly in several bars in downtown Monterrey that were recently attacked by gunmen.
The Tequila Files 