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Residents of the Ojite de Matamoros community in Mexico's Veracruz state were violently attacked by the police as they blocked a highway to demand urgent medical attention for an outbreak of an acute respiratory illness.
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In the past 10 days, two children have died and 10 people have been hospitalized, according to Processo.
So far, the Ministry of Health has been unable to contain the outbreak. Hence, it has spread to surrounding communities within Coxquihui and El Espinal. Doctors initially confused the respiratory illness with dengue as patients suffered from vomiting and high fever, according to the Veracruzan Communications Agency.
As night fell on protesters blocking Coxquihui-El Espinal-Coyutla highway, 180 kilometers from the capital city of Xalapa-Enriquez, some 100 members of the Civil Force and a State Secretariat of Public Security brandishing shields and weapons assembled before them. The police broke up the demonstration, cutting electrical power supplies to prevent any further protests.
State government officials attempted to downplay the police violence, saying that the protests were possibly infiltrated.
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The region faces grave deficiencies in its health care services. Until now, Veracruz state Governor Miguel Angel Yunas Linares has ignored the concerns of the residents.
Veracruz, located in Mexico's southeast, Gulf Coast region, is renowned for its large Indigenous population. Southbound are the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.
It has also been the scene of violent battles drug wars, which has been exacerbated by the U.S. opiate epidemic. Some 11 people were killed in the state this past June, including four children and the chief of the state's federal police.
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