11 dead in suspected arson attack at Mexico Club

Eleven people were killed and four injured in a suspected arson attack at a bar in the northern border town of San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, on Saturday morning, Mexican authorities said, as the country continues to grapple with violent crime.

The authorities said a young, drunk man had fire-bombed the club, Beer House, at around 1:33 a.m. after being kicked out earlier that night. Witnesses said he harassed women in the bar, leading to his eviction, according to the Sonora attorney general’s office.

The suspect has yet to be identified or apprehended, the attorney general said. Prosecutors did not say whether they believed the incident was related to organized crime.

Some victims were rushed across the border for treatment in the United States, while others were treated at local hospitals, prosecutors said.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, came to power in 2018 and vowed to change the country’s approach to crime. However, four years later, criminal organizations are only more entrenched, even though the country saw a slight drop in homicides last year.

In 2019, a deadly arson attack on a club — allegedly by cartel members — left more than 30 dead in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, southern Mexico. Armed assailants sealed off the club’s exits, trapping customers inside.