标签： South America

On a seemingly ordinary Monday morning at Teotihuacán, Mexico’s most iconic pre-Hispanic archaeological site and top international tourist destination, a routine day of exploration collapsed into sudden, horrifying gun violence that authorities are still working to fully unpack.

Disturbing eyewitness footage captured the attacker, 27-year-old Mexico City native Julio César Jasso Ramírez, opening fire on unsuspecting visitors from the upper terrace of the site’s famous Pyramid of the Moon. Panicked tourists scrambled for shelter behind ancient stone structures as shots rang out, beginning the attack around 11:00 a.m. local time.

When the violence ended, a 32-year-old Canadian woman was dead, and the gunman had taken his own life via a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Multiple injured tourists from countries including Russia, Colombia, and Brazil were admitted to local hospitals for treatment of their wounds. Security forces, including the National Guard, were rapidly deployed to secure the historic site.

Initial investigations have drawn a clear line between this attack and the cartel-linked violence that has plagued Mexico for decades. Just two months prior, the killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader “El Mencho” sparked a wave of coordinated violence across the country that left widespread fear in its wake. But Mexican officials confirm Jasso Ramírez acted entirely alone, with no connections to organized criminal groups.

Searching the attacker’s belongings, investigators recovered a handgun, a supply of ammunition, and a tactical knife. They also found written materials, images, and manuscripts referencing a notorious 1999 mass shooting in the United States: the Columbine High School attack that left 13 dead. One witness told Reuters the gunman explicitly referenced Columbine, which took place 27 years to the day before the Teotihuacán attack.

Mexico State Attorney-General José Luis Cervantes Martínez confirmed that no evidence of co-conspirators has emerged, noting, “The aggressor planned and carried out the attack on his own and there is absolutely no indication at this point that he had any external help or that any other individuals were involved in this incident.” He described the attacker as fitting a psychopathic profile driven by copycat behavior, saying “the evidence collected so far pointed to a tendency to imitate situations that occurred in other places, at other times, and involving other individuals.”

The attack marks the second high-profile lone mass shooting in Mexico in less than a month, following a school shooting in Michoacán where a teen killed two teachers with an assault rifle. Both incidents mark a disturbing shift for Mexico, where nearly all large-scale violence has historically been tied to cartel turf wars. Mexican family therapist Valeria Villa, who has worked in mental health for decades, called the trend “a moment of transition, a very unfortunate, lamentable and worrying one, towards imitation of the phenomenon of mass killings we see every day in the United States.”

Experts note the trend does not stem solely from the importation of U.S. societal violence, however. Long-standing cartel violence in Mexico has desensitized segments of the population, particularly young people, to bloodshed. While Mexico does not have the same widespread legal access to guns as the United States, illegal firearms are easily obtainable on the black market, with most smuggled across the border from the U.S.

The shooting comes at a politically and socially sensitive moment for the Mexican government, just three weeks before Mexico co-hosts the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup, set to kick off in Mexico City on June 11. President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has recently touted her administration’s security progress, claiming the daily homicide rate in February 2026 was 44% lower than at the end of her predecessor’s term in September 2024, was quick to offer condolences and solidarity to the victims’ families.

Sheinbaum’s critics argue that falling homicide rates mask ongoing security crises, most notably the tens of thousands of unresolved missing person cases that disproportionately affect young Mexicans. The administration has moved quickly to reassure visiting football fans that security will be guaranteed during the tournament, but viral footage of a gunman opening fire on foreign tourists at one of the country’s most famous landmarks has done little to ease pre-tournament anxiety.

El Salvador has launched one of the largest mass criminal trials in the country’s modern history, with proceedings against 486 people alleged to be members of transnational criminal gangs getting underway this week. The unprecedented legal proceeding has drawn global attention as the Central American nation continues its aggressive crackdown on organized gang violence that has plagued communities for decades.

Newly released surveillance footage from the country’s attorney general’s office offers a rare public look at the opening of the trial: hundreds of incarcerated men, grouped together in secured prison facilities, are participating in the court proceedings remotely via live video link. This remote format was chosen to address massive logistical challenges, as security officials warned that moving all 486 defendants to a single physical courtroom would create unacceptable public safety risks.

Organized criminal gangs have long been a destabilizing force in El Salvador, driving high rates of homicide, extortion, and drug trafficking across the country. In recent years, the Salvadoran government has implemented sweeping anti-gang policies designed to dismantle these criminal networks, and this mass trial marks a major milestone in that ongoing campaign. Legal observers have noted that the scale of the proceeding is almost unmatched globally, and it will test the capacity of the country’s judicial system to process hundreds of cases while upholding due process standards.

The defendants in the case face a wide range of criminal charges related to their alleged involvement in gang activities, including conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, drug trafficking, and organized criminal association. Authorities say the majority of the accused are linked to two of El Salvador’s most powerful and violent gangs, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18. As the trial proceeds, national and international watchdogs will be monitoring to ensure that procedural rights are protected for all defendants, even as the government maintains its tough stance against gang-related crime.

A landmark mass trial that marks one of the largest gang prosecutions in modern history has commenced in El Salvador, targeting 486 top leaders and key associates of the notorious transnational criminal organization MS-13, the country’s attorney general’s office has confirmed. The sprawling case comes nearly three years after President Nayib Bukele launched a hardline, widely debated nationwide crackdown on gang activity that has reshaped the Central American nation’s security landscape.

According to official prosecutors, the 486 defendants are collectively linked to more than 47,000 separate criminal offenses carried out between 2012 and 2022. The long list of charges includes murder, extortion, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, femicide, forced disappearances, and an unprecedented charge of rebellion. Prosecutors allege the group sought to consolidate territorial control across El Salvador to build a parallel state that could challenge the authority of the elected government. A number of the accused are also tied to a devastating 2022 outbreak of gang violence that left 87 people dead over a single weekend in March of that year—a bloodbath that directly prompted Bukele to declare a formal “war on gangs” and roll out sweeping emergency security measures.

Prosecutors have stated they hold compelling evidence that will support the pursuit of maximum criminal penalties for all defendants convicted in the case. As of the trial’s opening, 413 of the accused are already in custody, while 73 remaining suspects are being tried in absentia, with active arrest warrants still in effect for the fugitives. El Salvador’s National Civil Police says its years of targeted intelligence gathering, research and covert monitoring operations made it possible to map out the gang’s hierarchical structure, locate suspects, and document the full scope of their criminal activity ahead of trial.

MS-13, the transnational gang at the center of the case, traces its origins back to 1980s Los Angeles, where it was formed by Salvadoran refugees fleeing the country’s brutal civil war. In recent decades, the organization has expanded its footprint dramatically across Central America, where it now maintains a larger and more powerful presence than it does in the United States. Last year, the U.S. government formally designated MS-13 as a terrorist organization, acknowledging its cross-border reach and violent impact. In a statement ahead of trial, El Salvador’s attorney general’s office emphasized that the gang’s decades of systematic criminal activity have not only spread fear and immeasurable grief across Salvadoran households, but also held back the country’s broader economic and social progress.

The trial is taking place against the backdrop of a controversial ongoing state of emergency that Bukele first implemented in March 2022, shortly after the deadly wave of violence. The emergency measure vastly expanded law enforcement’s power to detain individuals suspected of gang ties or collaboration, and temporarily suspended a number of constitutional rights protections. Since the policy was implemented, tens of thousands of suspected gang members and affiliates have been arrested across the country, but the approach has drawn sharp criticism from international human rights organizations, which have documented widespread allegations of arbitrary detentions of innocent civilians and other human rights abuses. Legal reforms enacted by the Bukele administration in recent years also explicitly paved the way for mass gang trials like the proceeding that opened this week.

A deadly shooting at one of Mexico’s most famous tourist landmarks has left one Canadian woman dead and multiple visitors wounded, Mexican authorities have confirmed. The violent incident unfolded on Monday at the sprawling Teotihuacan archaeological zone, a pre-Hispanic ruin complex located roughly an hour’s drive north of Mexico City that draws millions of domestic and international visitors annually.

Following the attack, the gunman died by suicide at the scene, according to official government statements. Responding law enforcement personnel secured the zone quickly after the violence broke out, and remained deployed across the site on Monday to process evidence. Investigators have recovered a firearm, a bladed weapon and unused live ammunition from the area where the shooting took place.

Among the injured people receiving treatment for their wounds are two Colombian citizens, one Russian national and one additional Canadian, State Security Secretary Cristóbal Castañeda Camarillo confirmed to reporters during a Monday press briefing.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office earlier this year, confirmed she is monitoring the developing situation closely and has maintained direct communication with the Canadian embassy in Mexico City to coordinate updates. In a public statement posted to social media, Sheinbaum said she had directed her full national security cabinet to launch a thorough investigation into the attack, and ordered officials to extend all possible support to those affected by the violence.

“What happened today in Teotihuacan deeply pains us. I express my most sincere solidarity with the affected individuals and their families,” Sheinbaum wrote in her Spanish-language statement.

The Teotihuacan archaeological park is one of Mexico’s crown jewels of cultural heritage, home to the iconic Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon, remnants of a powerful pre-Columbian civilization that flourished centuries before the rise of the Aztec Empire. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and consistently ranks among the most visited tourist attractions in the country.

The BBC has reached out to officials at the Canadian government for additional comment and further details about the slain victim as the investigation continues. Authorities have not yet released a confirmed motive for the attack, and updates on the case are expected as more information becomes available.

A routine anti-criminal operation in one of Rio de Janeiro’s most well-known favelas turned into a frightening ordeal for roughly 200 sightseeing visitors early one morning, when an exchange of gunfire between police officers and suspected gang members left the group trapped at the peak of a iconic tourist viewpoint. Morro Dois Irmãos, the hilltop site where the incident unfolded, draws hundreds of hikers and casual visitors daily thanks to its sweeping, postcard-perfect views of Rio’s famous Ipanema Beach, with the main hiking trail to the summit starting just east of the Vidigal favela neighborhood.

The operation was a joint effort led by investigators from the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police force, who launched the raid targeting alleged high-ranking members of the Comando Vermelho criminal gang, a notorious organized crime group that maintains a heavy presence in many of Rio’s informal communities, according to reporting from leading Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo. Law enforcement teams entered the neighborhood believing the targeted gang members were hiding within Vidigal, but a confrontation between officers and the suspects quickly escalated into active gunfire near the entrance to the Morro Dois Irmãos trail. The crossfire blocked the only main access route to the summit, trapping the crowd of tourists who had already climbed to the top to watch the popular sunrise over Ipanema.

Footage of the incident shared widely across social media captures the tense scene: the large group of stranded visitors huddling on the ground at the hilltop as the sun rose over the Atlantic, while a police helicopter circled overhead and the distant echo of gunfire could be heard across the neighborhood. For many of the tourists, the experience was a sudden shock to a planned morning excursion. Matilda Oliveiro, a Portuguese traveler who had climbed the hill with her sister Rita to watch the sunrise, recalled that local trail guides quickly ordered the entire group to take cover once gunfire began. “We had waited for sunrise and, suddenly, the guides asked us to sit down and we started hearing gunshots,” she told TV Globo in an interview after the incident. She added that the guides responded quickly to the crisis, noting “It’s always scary, but it was controlled as much as possible. We passed the police on the way, and the situation was already under control.”

According to local media reports, the entire group of stranded tourists was able to begin descending the hill roughly 30 minutes after the shootout broke out, once police secured the access route and brought the situation under control. Multiple visitors confirmed that local trail guides had received advance notice of the planned police operation, and had coordinated with law enforcement units on the ground to manage the crowd once the confrontation began. Danielly Nobre, a 25-year-old visitor who was part of the stranded group, told Brazilian daily newspaper O Dia that the group was already at the summit when the shooting started, and guides immediately began coordinating to keep everyone safe. “We were caught by surprise. We were already at the top when we started hearing gunshots, and the guides were already telling us what was happening,” Nobre said. She added that guides repeatedly reassured the crowd that the situation was under control, and a passing police helicopter also issued instructions for the group to stay calm and remain in cover. “In the end, everything worked out. Everyone went down in a single file, everyone helping, and we managed to finish the trail, see the sunrise, and experience that adrenaline rush,” Nobre added.

The incident shines a light on the persistent presence of organized crime in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, where groups like Comando Vermelho have evolved far beyond their origins as drug trafficking organizations. Today, these criminal groups enforce strict local rules and hold de facto monopolies over the provision of basic services including residential gas delivery, cable television, internet access and local public transport in the communities they control, making anti-gang operations a frequent but high-risk part of law enforcement work in the city.