Don Gaudencio lived for weeks under threats for refusing to pay extortion money to organized crime. This morning, his neighbors found him on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the head.
Next to the merchant’s body, neighbors found a firearm and a spent shell casing nearby.
The elderly man’s body lay on the sidewalk at the intersection of Jesús Reyes Héroes, Misantla, and Fraternidad streets in the Obrero Campesina neighborhood of Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz state.
Family members and neighbors demanded that Rocío Nahle ensure justice is served and prevent “what always happens, impunity, or the arrest of a scapegoat to justify the government’s actions.”
The family of “Don Gaudencio,” as his customers called him, revealed that more than a month ago he decided to install an external security camera system at his business due to the increase in threats against him.
Forensic experts from the State Attorney General’s Office, who arrived at the scene, opened an investigation to locate and arrest the alleged perpetrator(s).
According to the Mexican Employers’ Confederation (Coparmex), extortion is experiencing alarming growth.
In its bulletin of January 26, the employers’ organization reported that extortion is on the rise in five states: Mexico State, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, and Veracruz, which account for 65.2 percent of the victims.
Based on the increase in extortion, Coparmex maintains that the federal government should consider it a national public policy priority.
The document indicates that 46.8 percent of businesses were victims of at least one crime, with extortion being the second most common.
Source: latinus.us
