Mexico says 2 men arrested in strangling deaths of sister nurses

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Two men were arrested for the strangling deaths of three sisters who worked in Mexico’s government hospital system, and authorities ruled out any link to nationwide assaults on medical staff as anxiety over the pandemic escalates.

Initial evidence shows the suspects, a nurse and a municipal market worker in their 20s, planned to rob the women, whose bodies were found in a house in the city of Torreón, said Miguel Ángel Riquelme, governor of the northern border state of Coahuila.

The killings had nothing to do with the sisters’ hospital work, Riquelme said late Friday.

Two of the sisters were nurses for the Mexican Social Security Institute and the third was a hospital administrator. The sisters, who were between 48 and 59 years old, were killed Thursday, according to the Social Security Institute.

In sporadic incidents in other parts of Mexico, nurses have had been hit, kicked off public transport or had cleaning fluids poured on them because of fears they might spread the new coronavirus.

Mexican authorities have denounced the attacks and urged medical personnel not to wear uniforms or scrubs on the street to avoid being targeted.

Many Mexicans have praised their medical workers, describing them as heroes as hospitals treat an increasing number of people suffering from the COVID-19 disease.