At Least 20 Killed in Mexico Gunbattle Near Texas Border Clash adds to doubts over Mexican president’s ability to control organized crime groups By José de Córdoba
https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-least-20-killed-in-mexico-gunbattle-near-texas-border-11575252949
MEXICO CITY—Dozens of cartel gunmen engaged in a two-day battle with Mexican security forces that left at least 20 people dead in a small town across the border from Texas, officials said Sunday.
The clash is the latest incident in a surge of violence hitting Mexico, exacerbating doubts about the ability of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to control organized crime groups.
Last week, President Trump said he planned to declare Mexico’s cartels foreign terrorist organizations. In November, gunmen ambushed and killed three mothers and six of their children, all U.S. citizens living in a fundamentalist Mormon community in northern Mexico. Mexico’s attorney general’s office said Sunday it had detained various suspects in the killings.
Mexican officials criticized Mr. Trump’s proposal as opening the door to U.S. interference in its domestic affairs. U.S. Attorney General William Barr is expected to meet with Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard to discuss security issues later this week.
On Saturday, a caravan of gunmen in trucks, many marked with the initials of the Northeast Cartel, drove into the small town of Villa Unión, about 44 miles from the city of Eagle Pass, Texas, according to officials. The gunmen shot up municipal offices and other buildings.
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