Mexico: Funerals held for casino attack victims

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Mexico: Funerals held for casino attack victims

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Grieving relatives in Mexico began to bury victims of casino attack in which 52 people were killed.

28 August,2011 02:49 pm

The first funerals for some of the 52 victims of an attack in Mexico were held just 72 hours after armed men launched a brazen assault on a casino in the countrys richest city Monterrey.In traditional Mexican fare, dozens of anguished mourners were flanked by a traditional Mariachi band to pay their last respects to Eduardo Martinez who was trapped inside after assailants stormed the gambling hall and set the entertainment complex ablaze.On Friday (August 26) embattled Mexican President Felipe Calderon observed a minutes silence and laid at the wreath at the site of the attack promising to spare no effort in finding the culprits of the brazen assault.Unsatisfied with Calderons efforts to stem the tide of spiralling violence that has swept through the city over the last year angry mourners demanded answers into how soldiers stationed in the city to combat organised crime gangs failed to prevent such a devastating attack in broad daylight.How is it possible to ask for forgiveness from those who go disturbing and killing the elderly, writers and women. There is no forgiveness from God, not with this, and if the government cant maintain law and order then they should give power to those who can. That is how it is, or leave the people to kill one another because here there is no government, said the victims mother Juliet Cavazos.No arrests have been made so far and authorities have put up a reward of 30 million pesos (more than $2 million) to anyone with information that could lead to an arrest. With the attack bearing all the hallmarks of drug cartels operating in the city many suspect organised criminal gangs to be behind the assault.There is impotence with security against so much violence. Now we are not at peace, not at home, not in the street, not in our work, nowhere, said the victims brother, Edilberto Martinez.Monterrey is a relatively wealthy city of about 4 million people and was for many years seen as a model of economic development but it has been ravaged by violence over the past two years as Mexicos drugs war has escalated.