50 UNAM students assaulted by armed men during party in Cuernavaca

Cuernavaca - about 85 km south of Mexico City

According to a police complaint  lodged by students at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), the largest public university in Mexico City, at least 15 men, ten of them armed, entered a home in the Alta Vista neighbourhood in Cuernavaca, Morelos, whereupon they threatened individuals and robbed them.

The home was being used as a “salón de fiestas” – essentially a house used for semi-formal celebrations – when the men entered and assaulted about 50 people. Three students were wounded by gunfire, but are expected to recover. There is no firm count on the total number of people in the house.

“First, they tried to use some individuals to get them into the party, and when they said ‘no’ and denied them access, they entered by force,” said Víctor Hugo Valdés Ortíz, director of public security for the state of Morelos. “Apparently ten of them were armed – we don’t know what type of weapons they, had, just that they were armed.”

Valdés Ortíz said that one suspect had been detained after being found riding a motorcycle stolen at the party. Recent reports now say that two vehicles were also stolen during the attack.

Cuernavaca is located about 85 km south of Mexico City. UNAM is one of the largest public universities in the world, with an academic staff of 36,750 and about 325,000 students.

(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)

February 15, 2013: Attack on Morelos attorney general: Guns don’t kill people – confused people with guns kill people

February 9, 2013: Confusion reigns after police attack motorcade of Attorney General for Morelos, killing three bodyguards

February 5, 2013: “Respectable” citizens offered Morelos governor Graco Ramirez a deal with organized crime

January 31, 2013: Who needs 60 bodyguards? The governor of Morelos, Mexico

Twitter: @TimothyEWilson

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