9 Mormon women and children were shot and 'burned alive' in an ambush near the US-Mexico border - CNN
The LeBaron family's history of conflict with Mexican drug cartels may indicate the family was targeted, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda told CNN on Tuesday evening.
"They had stood up to the drug cartels and they did have certain frictions either with the cartels or with neighboring communities over water rights," Castañeda said.
"Their long-standing tensions, and apparently the woman who was driving in the first car that was attacked was an activist. She was someone who was very active in her community, defending her family, her fellow members of the community against cartels, on the issue of water rights," Castañeda said, describing one of the three women killed, without naming her.
The former minister also said the larger LeBaron community had been receiving the protection of 90 federal police stationed around the community since 2011 because of tensions between the family and cartels.
That protection was withdrawn to some extent by the current government earlier this year, according to Castañeda. It's unclear whether all 90 policemen were withdrawn or just some of them, he added.