Undercover policemen burnt alive by Mexican mob
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Your support makes all the difference.The images are shocking: a young man, his face bloody and swollen, struggling to tell a reporter that he is an undercover federal agent, shortly before an angry mob burns him alive.
The images are shocking: a young man, his face bloody and swollen, struggling to tell a reporter that he is an undercover federal agent, shortly before an angry mob burns him alive.
The horrific footage from Tuesday's killings has sparked a debate on growing vigilante justice in Mexico, where police are viewed as corrupt.
The killings came amid rumours that children had been kidnapped from a school on Mexico City's southern outskirts. When residents saw three men taking photos at the school on Tuesday, they took action, beating all three men.
Reporters arrived, and the victims were pushed before television cameras so they could be interviewed. Barely conscious and struggling to talk, they nodded when asked if they were federal agents.
Police began to arrive, and rescued one man. The other two were bathed in petrol and set ablaze, their charred bodies left bleeding in the street.
The federal police director, Jose Luis Figueroa, said theywere plainclothes agents sent to the township of San Juan Ixtayopan to investigate drug-dealing near the school.
Despite the violence, debate has focused on the police. Many asked why it took riot police hours to arrive. Others said vigilantism was to be expected in a country where the police are infamous for seeking bribes.
There appeared to be little remorse in San Juan Ixtayopan. Many complained that police had ignored initial reports of the school kidnappings.
"If the police aren't going to do anything, then the town has to take matters into their own hands," said 15-year-old Maria Eva Labana.
Mexicans, frustrated by soaring crime that often goes unpunished, have frequently taken justice into their own hands.
Earlier this month, police rescued a 28-year-old man locals were threatening to beat to death for trying to steal a guitar from a community centre.
Two years ago, a mob killed two of three youths who tried to rob a taxi driver in Mexico City.
A Mexico City analyst, Jose Antonio Crespo, said Tuesday night's violence showed that "anarchy is growing, broadening, proliferating in different areas of the country".
"When it involves a crowd like this, it is difficult to punish them," he said. "This enables other people in the future to take justice into their own hands."
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