SAO PAULO, June 13, 2016 (Xinhua) -- People take part in a vigil in memory of Orlando nightclub shooting victims in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 12, 2016. (Xinhua/Rahel Patrasso)
MEXICO CITY, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Latin American countries are united in their voices on Monday, condemning the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida over the weekend that left at least 50 people dead and 53 more wounded.
Orlando is home to a sizeable Hispanic community and "the majority of the victims are of Hispanic origin," Colombia's Caracol news network reported on Monday, adding three Colombians were among the injured.
Among the fatal victims were at least three Mexican nationals, while another was injured in the massacre, but in stable condition, Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry said, adding "the Mexican government deeply laments" the deaths.
The Mexican ministry did not reveal the names of the victims, but said it was in contact with their relatives.
SAO PAULO, June 13, 2016 (Xinhua) -- People take part in a vigil in memory of Orlando nightclub shooting victims in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on June 12, 2016. (Xinhua/Rahel Patrasso)
Nearly all of the fatal victims have been identified, but less than half of the victims' families have been notified as yet by the authorities, according to U.S. news sources.
One of the two Colombian men injured was a barman working at the Pulse nightclub at the time of the shooting, and the third Colombian was a woman athlete, Caracol said, citing information partly gleaned from the victims' social networks.
The woman, Paula Andrea Blanco, an American football player with a local team, said she was leaving the club with her boyfriend at around 2:00 am Sunday morning when the gunman, identified as Omar Mateen, 29, approached the site and began shooting at them.
Some "24 percent of the community in Orlando is Hispanic, that's why so many of the victims' family names ... sound familiar to us," Caracol's on-site reporter said.
She added that it was also Latin night at Pulse on Saturday, so the club had drawn perhaps more Hispanics than usual.
The assailant, a U.S. national of Afghan origin, had been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 for possible connection to Islamic extremists, according to news sources.
His family also said he may have been homophobic.
Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Ministry "condemned the attacks that do not lead to the values that support democratic and peaceful coexistence," and expressed the government's "solidarity with the U.S. people, especially the victims' relatives."
Via Twitter, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa also called on the public to "unite to combat homophobia and terrorism."
In Argentina, President Mauricio Macri said via Twitter, "We are shocked by the massacre in Orlando. We join the American people and especially the families of the victims and the injured at this difficult time."
In neighboring Chile, President Michelle Bachelet echoed those sentiments on Sunday, saying she was "deeply shocked," while her Foreign Affairs Minister Heraldo Munoz personally visited the U.S. Embassy in Santiago to convey the government's condolences.
"This is an attack not just against the United States, but against the human condition, against diversity," Munoz told reporters.
The governments of Uruguay, Venezuela and Brazil also joined the other Latin American countries in expressing their solidarity and condemning the massacre.
