UPDATED AT 7:30 PM -- MORELIA, Mexico — President Felipe Calderon today pledged a military response and urged Mexicans not to be afraid after two grenades thrown into a crowd of Independence Day revelers late Monday killed seven people and injured more than 100.
“These illegal acts were clearly attacking our national security, committed by true traitors who have no respect for others or for the country,” Calderon said. “Those who believe they can use fear to hold our society hostage and immobilize us are mistaken. ... They are doomed to fail.”
But in a nation increasingly terrified and outraged by both drug violence and common crime, the attack drove home a message: No place is safe.
State emergency officials and state prosecutors said seven were killed, though earlier reports said the death toll had risen to eight.
Since taking office in 2006, Calderon has sent more than 25,000 soldiers to confront cartels that move marijuana and cocaine into the United States. The gangs have responded with daytime shootouts, assassinations, beheadings and massacres.
The latest incident came during the traditional “grito,” or shout for independence, late Monday. Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy had just finished shouting “Viva Mexico!” from a balcony, when the two grenades exploded simultaneously in the crowd, blocks apart.
At first, the throngs of people thought the explosions were part of the fireworks display. Then thick, black smoke rose from the crowd, the cathedral’s bells fell silent and people started screaming. As the crowd cleared, rescuers attended to the wounded and dead.
Godoy, who wasn’t hurt, said witnesses saw a heavyset man wearing black throw one grenade, then beg forgiveness for what he had done. But he provided no details, and there were no claims of responsibility. Authorities made no arrests.
“Without a doubt, we believe this was done by organized crime,” he said.
The attack targeted a tradition that brings millions of Mexicans together in public plazas each year, and cast a pall over today’s parades, held in cities and towns across the nation to celebrate the 1810 start of Mexico’s 10-year war of independence from Spain.
Godoy canceled a march in Morelia after his office received threats, “because there are children, women and innocent people who have been hurt.” But parades went on elsewhere, including the traditional military show of force in Mexico City.
Calderon urged Mexicans to stand up to the cartel threat, appealing to their patriotism. “The Mexican people, especially on this important date, should remain united in the face of those who want to divide us,” the president said.
Morelia remained under heavy guard today, with soldiers and federal, state and local police manning checkpoints on surrounding highways.
