The Morelia grenade attacks took place on 15 September 2008 on the occasion of the

Mexican Independence Day Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

anniversary when thousands of people were gathered in the Plaza Melchor Ocampo, the main square of the Mexican city of

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

, Michoacán. Shortly after the Grito in that city, led by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Leonel Godoy Leonel Godoy Rangel (born June 5, 1950 in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán) is a Mexican lawyer, politician, and former Governor of Michoacán. He is a former president of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Political career Leonel G ...

, two grenades were thrown into the crowds, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 100.

The attacks

The first blast was reported shortly after 23:00, on the Plaza itself, as the governor was intoning the traditional ''vivas'' to the heroes of the nation; the second took place some minutes later, in a sidestreet located four blocks away. Two further explosions were reported in the immediate aftermath: one at 01:00, leaving the city along the highway to

Salamanca, Guanajuato Salamanca ( Otomi: ''Xidoo'' "Place of Tepetate") is a city in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Founded January 1, 1603 as 'Villa de Salamanca' by the Viceroy Gaspar de Zuniga and Acevedo, fifth Earl of Monterrey, who was originally from Salam ...

; and a fourth at 01:15, in the Santa María district in the vicinity of Morelia's bandera monumental.

Suspects

The police have blamed

drug cartel A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when th ...

s for the grenade attacks, specifically the

La Familia Michoacana La Familia Michoacana, (English: ''The Michoacán Family'') La Familia (English: ''The Family''), or LFM is a Mexican drug cartel and organized crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Michoacán. They are known to produce large amounts o ...

gang. La Familia denied it and instead blamed

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate, regarded as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent "shock and awe" tactics such as beheadings, torture, and indiscr ...

. A week after the attacks, police from

SIEDO es, label=none, italics=none, Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada, lit=Assistant Attorney General's Office for Special Investigations on Organized Crime(SEIDO), is the organized crime division of Mexico's ...

and the

Federal Investigations Agency The Federal Ministerial Police (in Spanish: ''Policía Federal Ministerial'', PFM) is a Mexican federal agency tasked with fighting corruption and organized crime, through an executive order by President Felipe Calderón. The agency is directe ...

arrested three men of the Los Zetas gang accused of throwing the grenades. However, the suspects were proven guilty for eleven years until 2019, when a federal corrections judge proved them innocent. They were proven innocent because they had not been present in

the night of September 15,2008 and had been subject to kidnapping and false imprisonment by orders of Servando Gomez Martinez,

José de Jesús Méndez Vargas José de Jesús Méndez Vargas (born 28 February 1974), commonly referred to by his alias El Chango ("The Ape"), is a Mexican drug lord and former leader of the now disbanded La Familia drug cartel, headquartered in the state of Michoacán. M ...

,and

Nazario Moreno Nazario may refer to * Ronaldo Nazario (born 1976), Brazilian former footballer * Nazario (given name) * Nazario (surname) * Nazário, a municipality in Brazil * Nazario Collection, a cache of carved stones at Guayanilla, Puerto Rico *San Nazario, V ...

. They had been present in the city of

Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán Lázaro Cárdenas () is a port city in Michoacán bordered to the east by Guerrero. Lázaro Cárdenas is located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. It was formerly known as Los Llanitos, but changed its name as a tribute to L ...

and had been taken to an unincorporated town in the Apatzingan municipality. They were

tortured Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts carr ...

and tied up to a tree until agents from the

Procuraduría General de la República The Attorney General of the Republic is the head of the Attorney General's Office (''Fiscalía General de la República, FGR''; prior to 2019, ''Procuraduría General de la República, PGR'') and the Federal Public Ministry of the United Mexic ...

came, who were paid 10,000,000 pesos to arrest them.

Context

Morelia is the home town of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 ...

of the PAN, although the state of Michocán has traditionally been controlled by the opposition PRI and PRD. Michoacán has, since Calderón took office, been one of the federal government's focal points in its anti-drug efforts and initial suspicions indicated that the atrocity was probably the work of the drugs cartels, either part of a battle for territory or as a warning to the government.Deadly Mexico national day blasts
BBC News, 2008-09-16, Condemnation of the incident across the country was unanimous, as such tactics of the drug lords in attacking random citizen congregations was unprecedented in Mexican history.

References

External links

{{Mexican Drug War 2008 murders in Mexico 21st century in Michoacán 21st-century mass murder in Mexico Crime in Michoacán Explosions in 2008 Explosions in Mexico Grenade attacks Los Zetas Mass murder in 2008 Battles of the Mexican drug war

Grenade attacks A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern ...

Organized crime events in Mexico September 2008 crimes September 2008 events in Mexico Terrorist incidents in Mexico in the 2000s Terrorist incidents in North America in 2008