Mexico City: Fan violence, homophobic chanting, and signs of criminal gangs infiltrating the stands — challenges are stacking up for Mexican football authorities four years before they co-host the World Cup.
The football-mad nation was shocked by a mass brawl between rival spectators last weekend in the central city of Queretaro that left 26 people injured and sent families and children running to safety.
The fight broke out just after the hour mark of the March 5 game between top-division team Queretaro and defending champions Atlas, leading to 17 arrests.
Experts said that the clashes bore some of the hallmarks of gang violence that permeates Mexico and suggested there were links between cartels and organized fan groups known as “barras.”
“This level of violence reveals an invisible and silent penetration of criminal groups,” said Hugo Sanchez Gudino, professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
“Generally when two barras in Mexico have rivalries and confront each other, it’s like any street fight, but what happened in Queretaro was more violent with certain traits of drug trafficking,” he told AFP.
When organized crime groups clash they sometimes strip their enemies of their clothing, which was also seen in Saturday’s brawl, Sanchez Gudino said.
“That is an indication that these criminal groups are in those barras,” he added.
Mexico has been trapped in a spiral of cartel-related violence since 2006 when the government launched a controversial anti-drug military operation.
There have been more than 340,000 murders since then, most of them blamed on fighting between criminals, according to official figures.
