At least four Mexican nationals were among the dead in the attack on the Pulse night club in Orlando, Mexico’s foreign relations ministry has said.
Mexican media, citing sources in the foreign ministry, listed the slain as Luis Sergio Vielma Astudillo, 22; Juan Chávez Martínez, 25, Miguel Ángel Honorato, 30, and Joel Rayón Paniagua, 31.
The four men had ties to states known for scant employment opportunities and as places from where young men emigrate in search of economic opportunities.
Guerrero state governor Héctor Astudillo Flores confirmed the identity of Vielma, who was born in the municipality of Coyuca de Catalán, which is situated in an area plagued by drug cartels some 280km south-west of Mexico City. In Florida, Vielma was employed at Universal Studios and operated the Harry Potter ride, according media reports.
“Luis Vielma worked on the Harry Potter ride at Universal. He was 22 years old. I can’t stop crying. #Orlando” author J.K. Rowling tweeted.
Martínez hailed from Huichapan, a municipality 180km north of Mexico City in Hidalgo state. The director of the state’s ministry for attention to migrants said that his family had sought assistance with repatriating his remains. The Orlando Sentinel reported Martínez worked at one point as a housekeeping supervisor. A friend described him as “an excellent boss and person.”
Honorato, originally from the municipality of Tenanguillo de las Cañas in Guerrero state and one of nine children, moved to the United States at age four, Univision reported. He had a wife and three children, including two infants. He managed hospitality businesses owned by his parents, according to Univision. He went to Pulse with two friends, both of whom survived the shooting.
Rayón was from the state of Veracruz, but moved to Florida and worked in construction, the Sentinel reported. He went to the club to dance and meet friends, the newspaper added.
The Orlando attacks attracted enormous attention in Mexico, along with condemnation and expressions of sympathy and solidarity. The foreign relations ministry bathed its building in central Mexico City in red, white and blue and also rainbow colours on Monday night in solidarity.
President Enrique Peña Nieto, who sent an initiative to Congress last month to make same-sex marriage a constitutional right, said: “This act is precisely marked by the unleashing of violence that had something in its origin expressions of hatred, discrimination and phobias toward certain persons.”
“What this regrettable act must leave us with is a condemnation of those expressions, which only divide us, create confrontations and provoke violence, like this tragic event.”
Mexico also experienced a recent attack on a gay bar. Gunmen burst into La Madame, a bar in the city of Xalapa, to the east of Mexico City, which left five dead and 14 injured. Authorities blamed the attack on disputes between drug dealers – an explanation disputed by the bar’s owners and LGBTQ community.
Some Mexicans mourning the Orlando attack wondered aloud on society media sites why the Xalapa incident wasn’t condemned by Mexican officials, including the president – unlike atrocities in the United States.
