3 dead, several injured in Mexico when rural disputes turn violence, authorities say

3 dead, more injured in Mexico rural disputes

ACAPULCO, Mexico — A man and his 12-year-old daughter were detained Sunday in southern Mexico for allegedly killing a neighboring land owner in a dispute over land.

Police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero said the man allegedly hacked his rival’s head open with a machete. Two relatives of the victim suffered non-life-threatening wounds in the attack in a remote, mountainous part of the state, police said.

Witnesses said the girl allegedly assisted her father in the attack, apparently using stones. Officials said she would be turned over to the juvenile justice system.

In the southern state of Oaxaca, local media quoted authorities as saying Sunday a mayor and another man were killed by assailants in a separate dispute apparently motivated by a disagreement over a mine.

That attack occurred near the town of San Jose del Progreso, and killed Mayor Oscar Venancio Rivera and the town’s health official. The newspaper El Universal said three other people were injured in the ambush-style attack.

The town has been split by a dispute over a foreign gold and silver mine in the township. A group opposed to the mayor claims the mine is polluting local water supplies.

El Universal said a local priest sympathetic to the opposition movement had been beaten by some residents and he was taken in for questioning by police but had not been charged with any wrongdoing.

A mining boom spurred by high gold prices has caused a series of disputes in Mexico. Last week, a Canadian mining company, Gammon Gold Inc., indefinitely suspended operations at a mine in central Guanajuato state after some workers blocked entrances to the site and demanded profit-sharing payments.

Gammon Gold, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said in a statement that it wants criminal charges filed against union leaders.