Coatzacoalcos nightclub fire

On the evening of August 27, 2019, a fire started in a nightclub in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico.[1] The fire killed 31 people. It was started by what are believed to be members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, who blocked its exits.[1]

Coatzacoalcos nightclub fire
DateAugust 27, 2019 (2019-08-27)
LocationCoatzacoalcos, Mexico
TypeArson
Deaths31
Non-fatal injuries11

Attack

It is believed that unidentified members of the Jalisco drug cartel were angered at the bar owner's refusal to pay extortion demands, and burst into the bar at gunpoint.[2] The unknown assailants then locked the doors and other emergency exits of the club and then doused the building with gasoline and set it on fire. Prior to the attack the owner was kidnapped by the same group of individuals.[3]

Early reports of the attacks claimed that the fire had been started by homemade bombs, although it was later recanted.[4]

Victims

Thirty-one people were killed in the attack.[5] Around 24 people died during the initial fire attack and seven more died later in the hospital. Of those dead, there were ten women and sixteen men. Most of those that were killed were Mexican nationals, however two of the deceased victims were Filipino sailors on shore leave.[6]

Response

Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stated that the attack "degrades us as a society, as a government, as a nation."[2] The Governor of Veracruz, Cuitláhuac García Jiménez used Twitter to condemn the attack.[7]

Many were quick to point to the resemblance of a fire started by Los Zetas drug cartel at a casino eight years prior, which killed 52 people in Monterrey, Mexico.[4]

References
  1. Mexico's new bloody cartel drug war
  2. "Families begin burying the 28 victims of Mexico bar fire". Los Angeles Times. 2019-08-30. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  3. "Extreme acts of violence in Mexico are on the rise: 27 burned to death at a strip club". Los Angeles Times. 2019-08-28. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  4. Sieff, Kevin; Beachum, Lateshia (August 28, 2019). "More than two dozen people killed in fiery attack on a Mexican bar". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  5. "Se reúne gobernador de Veracruz con Fiscal General de la República por ataque a bar en Coatzacoalcos". El Universal (in Spanish). 2019-09-11. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  6. "26 killed, 11 injured in attack on bar in southern Mexico". ABC7 Los Angeles. 2019-08-29. Archived from the original on 2019-08-31. Retrieved 2019-08-31.
  7. Abel Alvarado and Mitchell McCluskey. "An arson attack on a bar in Mexico killed at least 23 people". CNN. Retrieved 2019-08-31.


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