Coatzacoalcos nightclub fire
{{Short description|2019 Event in the Mexican Drug War}}
{{use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox event
|date={{Start date|2019|8|27}}
|reported deaths=31
|reported injuries=11
|location=Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico
|type=Arson
}}
{{Campaignbox Mexican Drug War}}
On the evening of August 27, 2019, a fire started in a nightclub in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico.[https://www.thestar.com/news/world/americas/2019/08/30/mexicos-new-drug-war-may-be-worse-than-old-one.html Mexico's new bloody cartel drug war] 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.
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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-30/mexico-bar-killings-families-funerals|title=Families begin burying the 28 victims of Mexico bar fire|date=2019-08-30|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-31}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-08-28/mexico-bar-attack-killings|title=Extreme acts of violence in Mexico are on the rise: 27 burned to death at a strip club|date=2019-08-28|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-31}}
Early reports of the attacks claimed that the fire had been started by homemade bombs, although this statement was later recanted.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/28/arson-attack-bar-mexico-leaves-least-dead/|title=More than two dozen people killed in fiery attack on a Mexican bar|last1=Sieff|first1=Kevin|last2=Beachum|first2=Lateshia|date=August 28, 2019|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=August 30, 2019}}
Victims
Thirty-one people were killed in the attack.{{cite news |title=Se reúne gobernador de Veracruz con Fiscal General de la República por ataque a bar en Coatzacoalcos |url=https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/nacion/seguridad/se-reune-gobernador-de-veracruz-con-fiscal-por-ataque-bar-en-coatzacoalcos |access-date=2019-11-08 |work=El Universal |date=2019-09-11 |language=es}} 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; two of the deceased victims were, however, Filipino sailors on shore leave.{{Cite web|url=https://abc7.com/5497822/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831010710/https://abc7.com/5497822/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-08-31|title=26 killed, 11 injured in attack on bar in southern Mexico|date=2019-08-29|website=ABC7 Los Angeles|language=en|access-date=2019-08-31}}
Response
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated that the attack "degrades us as a society, as a government, as a nation". The Governor of Veracruz, Cuitláhuac García Jiménez, used Twitter to condemn the attack.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/28/americas/mexico-bar-fire-intl/index.html|title=An arson attack on a bar in Mexico killed at least 23 people|author=Abel Alvarado and Mitchell McCluskey|website=CNN|date=28 August 2019|access-date=2019-08-31}}
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, Nuevo León.
References
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{{Club fires}}
{{coord missing|Veracruz}}
Category:2010s fires in North America
Category:2019 murders in Mexico
Category:2019 disasters in Mexico
Category:21st-century mass murder in Mexico
Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in Mexico
Category:Nightclub arson attacks
Category:August 2019 crimes in North America
Category:August 2019 in Mexico
Category:Urban fires in North America
Category:Violent non-state actor incidents in Mexico
Category:Fire disasters involving barricaded escape routes