• STUDENTS: Three university students and one Uber driver were found murdered Monday after attending carnival festivities in the small colonial city of Huetjotzingo (pop. 73,000) in Mexico’s central state of Puebla. Two of the victims were exchange students from Colombia.
• TORTURE: State authorities in Puebla announced Monday the arrest of three suspects connected to the murder of the three medicine students but still did not identified a motive. The four victims’ bodies were found shot and with visible signs of torture within the Huejotzingo municipality.
• HEINOUS: “We strongly condemn this act of heinous cowardice, another example of the irrational violence, insecurity, and impunity that unfortunately, grows day by day,” said UPAEP, the private Catholic college in Puebla where the Colombian students arrived through an exchange program.
• HUEJOTZINGO: The Huejotzingo carnival festivities date back to 1868 and are known for their colorful recreation of scenes of the city’s history, including the use of gunpowder. Most recently, the municipality was known for being home to several fuel theft rings.
