"Acribillado" is a good word. It carries the connotation of the English "ventilated," or "plugged," only it's not a colloquial term in Spanish. The formal way to translate it would be "riddled with bullets."
An unidentified gunman fired six bullets from a 9m m handgun into a prominent Mexican defense attorney, Marcos Castillejos, when he was sitting in his car on the corner of Montes de Oca and Mazatlán in the Condesa neighborhood this morning. It's the most recent of several assassinations in Mexico City. Most of the recent killings, like the head of Federal Investigation Agency, Igor Labastida, have been linked to the federal government's recent assault on the northern drug cartels.
This killing might also be linked to the cartel war somehow: Luis Cárdenas Palomino, the head of the federal Department of Public Security, is Castillejos's son-in-law. Then again, it might not be. Sadly, contract killings haven't been that rare in Mexico for a long time, and there are plenty of other possible motives. Castillejo defended the accused in the murder of a comedian, Paco Stanley, a few years ago. (Stanley was killed in a taco joint off the Periférico freeway that I used to haunt). The Stanley killing is shrouded in mystery (he was politically connected) and God only knows what could be crawling out from under that rock. Castillejos was also hired by the head of the association of street peddlers, Alejandra Barrios. She was charged with murdering the husband of one of her competitors. In addition, the street peddlers are currently in the middle of an epic battle with the city government, which has been successfully squeezing them out of the historic old city. If I were an investigator in this murder, that's where I'd start.
In other words, I wouldn't make too much of this recent killing, although I suspect that John Robb might anyway. It's sad, but it doesn't represent a worsening. Just more of the same.
I recommend Ganchoblog for more.
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