Violence in Sonora ...

The Sierra Vista Herald reports: 20 dead following shootout in Sonora; gang had earlier killed four police in Cananea by Jonathan Clark

Many of the victims have been police officers, including several with connections to Cananea.

On Feb. 26, the head of public safety in Agua Prieta, Ramon Tacho Verdugo, was shot and killed by a group of unknown assailants as he left his office. He had served in a similar post in Cananea prior to taking office in Agua Prieta in September 2006.

On March 6, Federal Preventive Police officer Aldo Guzmán Palafox was fatally shot while driving through Cananea, and on March 22, another PFP officer, Gustavo Vega Rendón was gunned down in the city.

Then, on April 17, Cananea municipal police officers Blanca Noriega and Miguel Angel Caballero were shot and killed while on duty.

Following Wednesday’s violence, Sonora Attorney General Abel Murrieta said that 100 state police officers had been dispatched to Cananea to help reinforce security there.

Cananea, a copper mining city of approximately 35,000 inhabitants located 40 miles by highway from the Naco Port of Entry into the U.S., has a sister city relationship with Sierra Vista.