Why Mexican Cartels Are Shooting Up Drug Rehabs

Legalize it! –

July 10, 2020 – This latest macabre chapter in Mexico’s brutal crime wars shows how drug users – including those trying to get clean in the country’s unregulated, privately-run rehabs, known as anexos – are increasingly being caught up in cartel violence. Down a dirt road and hidden from the main highway, in the working class community of Arandas, the two-story yellow house is flanked by a vacant lot to the right and an empty house to the left. In front is a big white gate that dwarfs Miguel Regalado, 60, as he stands outside, peering in. He took VICE News to where three of his sons – Omar, 39, Cristian, 30, and Giovanni, 27 – were gunned down.

“I passed Giovanni on my way home from work [last Wednesday] and he was on his way here to give his brothers a soft drink,” said Miguel, who works in construction and as a handyman. The family home is a two minute walk from the clinic. “A bit later, around 5PM, my neighbour started pounding on my door saying they’d shot up the anexo. I ran.”