Puebla Governor Miguel Barbosa. Photo: Google

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Miguel Barbosa, the governor of the central Mexican state of Puebla, dismissed the mass murder of nine people in the town of Atlixco on Wednesday, March 10, since, in his words, “they were not from the state, and besides, they were drug traffickers.”

Barbosa, a member of President Andrés Manuel López Obradro’s (AMLO) leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena), is no stranger to controversary, having assumed his post shortly after the unexplained helicopter death of conservative Martha Erika Alonso in December 2018, who had won an election against him for the governorship.

In March 2020, Barbosa also incurred media criticism when he claimed that only the wealthy were at risk of contracting covid-.19, since “the poor are naturally immune.”

He likewise falsely claimed to be a lawyer for over 30 years, having only officially obtaining his degree a few months before becoming governor.

On Wednesday, nine people — including three women — were shot dead  at a private residence in Atlixco, Puebla.

“Everything points to the fact that this was an inter-gang execution,” Barbosa said at a press conference later in the day.

“Apparently, they were not from Atlixco or Puebla.”

Consequently, he said, the matter was “not of major concern.”