Mexican authorities investigate vigilante killings of 5 in remote community

MEXICO CITY — Authorities believe residents of a remote community in the mountains of southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state beat five people to death and burned their bodies, the state prosecutor’s office said Wednesday.

Oaxaca state authorities and National Guard arrived to the community of Llano Amarillo in Santa Maria Texcatitlan on Tuesday looking for the five missing people. They found a burned out vehicle with the remains of five people inside, the Oaxaca state prosecutor’s office said in a statement Wednesday.

They believe the killings occurred Monday, but forensic investigators were still working to identify the remains.

Preliminary information suggests that the five had arrived to the mountain community about 125 miles (200 kms) from the state capital Monday to collect a high-interest loan from a woman, the prosecutor's office said.

Such vigilante killings occur from time to time in Mexico, especially in remote areas where there is little government presence.

In March, a mob killed and burned a man who worked as a clown after he was a accused of abusing a child in another Oaxacan town. Last year, a mob killed a woman accused of involvement in the kidnapping and killing of a girl in Taxco, Guerrero.

A 2019 report — the most recent available — from the governmental National Human Rights Commission said that such killings were the most serious expression of people’s distrust of authorities and the pervasiveness of impunity. The study tallied 271 vigilante killings in 2018.