On 1 January 2023, a

gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Wiktionary:territory#Noun, territory in a ...

stormed a prison in

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...

, Chihuahua, Mexico, resulting in the deaths of 19 people.

Background

The

Mexican drug war The Mexican drug war is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing Asymmetric warfare, asymmetric armed conflict between the Federal government of Mexico, Mexican government and various Drug cartel#Mexico, drug trafficking syndicates. When the ...

began in 2006. Ciudad Juárez is a large city in Chihuahua which is next to the United States border, opposite

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Mexican

drug cartel A drug cartel is a criminal organization composed of independent drug lords who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the illegal drug trade. Drug cartels form with the purpose of controlling the supply of the i ...

s have carried out many attacks in Juárez, including a

prison riot A prison riot is an act of concerted defiance or disorder by a group of prisoners against the prison administrators, prison officers, or other groups of prisoners. Academic studies of prison riots emphasize a connection between prison conditions ...

in March 2009, an attack on a rehab center in September 2009 and a

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

in January 2010. The

Juárez Cartel The Juárez Cartel (, ), also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization, is a Mexican drug cartel based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, across the Mexico—U.S. border from El Paso, Texas. The cartel is one of several drug trafficking ...

carried out serial killings there.

Attack

At 7 am on 1 January 2023, a gang arrived in several

armored vehicle Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighti ...

s at the Cereso number 3 state prison in Juárez, where they opened fire on guards, while prisoners inside

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

ed. Ten guards, seven inmates, and two gunmen were killed, while 13 other people were wounded, and four were arrested. At least 30 inmates escaped, including the leader of the

Los Mexicles Los Mexicles is a Mexican street gang based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. It is allied to the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal group based in Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, compose t ...

gang, Ernesto Alfredo Piñón de la Cruz, who is believed to be behind a wave of killings in August 2022 known as "Black Thursday", in which 10 people were killed. On 3 January, a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

between gunmen and state investigators who were hunting the escapees resulted in five gunmen and two investigators being killed. Piñón de la Cruz was killed in a subsequent shootout with law enforcement in the early hours of 5 January.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuidad Juarez prison attack, 2023 Mass shootings in Mexico Attacks in Mexico in 2023 2023 riots 2023 murders in Mexico 21st century in Chihuahua (state) 21st-century mass murder in Mexico 2023 mass shootings in North America Battles of the Mexican drug war Crime in Chihuahua (state) 2023 prison attack January 2023 crimes in North America January 2023 in Mexico Mass murder in 2023 Prison riots in Mexico Attacks on prisons in Mexico Attacks on buildings and structures in 2023 Prison gang violence