That has only exacerbated the violence.
Word spread quickly here after gunfire erupted at a neighborhood drug rehab center.Natalia Acosta Medina bolted from her patio, sprinted through the muddy streets and climbed the stairs of the two-story facility.More than two dozen blood-spattered men lay face-down, some with heads split open, others groaning in agony.“I turned over the bodies one by one and looked at their faces,” Acosta recalled. Authorities suspect the assault was part of a ferocious turf battle between two criminal organizations — the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel — that has transformed once-peaceful Guanajuato into one of Mexico’s deadliest states.Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed Thursday to not “abandon” Guanajuato and suggested that state authorities investigate possible links between local officials and organized crime.“There has to be a division, the line has to be drawn between criminality and authority,” he said.Criminal groups have long undermined the justice system in Mexico by paying off police, prosecutors, judges and politicians.The attack at the “Recuperating My Life” rehab center was among the bloodiest incidents since López Obrador took office 19 months ago. He added that the Jalisco-based cartel controls 40% of Guanajuato and that it will likely continue with the turf war. Lots and lots of wine.California has focused on freeing nonviolent offenders to combat the spread of coronavirus in prisons, but some have committed violent crimes.Even with California’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassing 10,000, some hope is emerging: Doctors are getting better at saving patients.
Warning: Graphic content. Crime and violence in Guanajuato are on the rise despite El Marro’s arrest ... English 09/08/2020 15:51 Newsroom Guanajuato Carlos Arrieta, ... Mexican …
In Guanajuato state — a center for automobile production and other heavy manufacturing — the increase was far greater during that same period. Only two of the country’s 32 states — Baja California and Colima, which are much smaller — had higher homicide rates. El Marro has not spoken publicly about it.Less than three weeks after the massacre, El Mencho’s cartel released a video in which a masked gunman identified as a New Generation special forces chief warns El Marro that his days are numbered.“Marro, you are going to end up alone like a dog,” says the commander, flanked by dozens of fighters bearing assault rifles and positioned in front of armored vehicles. “But I never found my son.”He was discovered later, one of 27 men killed in the July 1 massacre.There were 3,540 killings in Guanajuato last year, a more than threefold increase since 2016.With 2,293 killings in the first half of this year, Guanajuato is on pace to set a new record.
Amid a pandemic and the remnants of a tropical storm, President Lopez Obrador kicked off Mexico's return to a "new normal" Monday with his first road trip in two months as the nation began to gradually ease some virus-inspired restrictions. The attack was the bloodiest episode in a wave of violence that has seen once-tranquil Guanajuato become one of Mexico’s deadliest states.
There were 3,540 killings in Guanajuato last year, a more than threefold increase since 2016.
Why justice?” asks Santoyo, mother of seven, only two of whom remain alive — two others died in accidents, she said. Several officers said under duress that town officials and law enforcement took orders from El Marro.The bodies of the abducted cops were later found dumped along a roadside — four of the more than 180 police officers killed in Guanajuato since the beginning of 2018.A month later, at least three people were killed in a commando-style raid on a church during a wedding gathering in the small town of Pelavacas. On Sunday, the governor of Guanajuato state Mexican authorities say they have detained José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, alias ‘El Marro,’ the alleged leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel. Only three less-populous states — the Pacific coastal enclave of Colima and the historically violent border states of Baja California and Chihuahua — have more homicides per capita. The Mexican media have also reported that the Santa Rosa organization, which specializes in fuel theft, has clashed with the New Generation group over drug-trafficking routes through Guanajuato state from the Pacific coast to the U.S.-Mexico border.Get all the day's most vital news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. “Guanajuato doesn’t need them,” the banner said. With 2,293 killings in the first half of this year, Guanajuato is on pace to set a new record.