A day after it was confirmed that Guanajuato recorded its most violent year on record in 2020, the federal security minister met with the state’s governor on Thursday to discuss a joint strategy to combat the worrying security situation.

The federal government reported Wednesday that there were 4,490 homicides in Guanajuato last year, an increase of 27% compared to 2019.

Guanajuato, where the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and numerous smaller criminal gangs operate, has now recorded more homicides than any other state for three consecutive years.

Federal Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez Velázquez met with Guanajuato Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo in Mexico City to discuss the situation and how it can be improved.

“We met with Guanajuato Governor Diego Sinhue to coordinate actions to reduce violence in the state. #TogetherWeBuildPeace,” tweeted Rodríguez Velázquez, who became security minister after Alfonso Durazo announced his resignation late last year in order to run for governor of Sonora.

The Guanajuato governor also took to Twitter to comment on the meeting.

“Coordinated work is necessary for the success of security policies and together we can achieve it. We appreciate the support and willingness of  Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez to collaborate on the joint security strategy in Guanajuato,” he wrote.

Neither the governor nor the security minister provided specific details about what they discussed or whether any changes would be made to the security strategy in Guanajuato.

The National Guard, which was created by the government in 2019, is carrying out public security tasks in the Bajío region state but one business group believes that not enough members of the new federal force have been deployed there.

The León branch of the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) questioned why more guardsmen are deployed in Mexico City and México state than in Guanajuato.

Despite Guanajuato being the most violent state in the country, it ranks third in terms of the number of National Guard members stationed there, Coparmex said in a statement.

“It has the half the number [of guardsmen] as Mexico City and México state, which are far from being … as violent as Guanajuato,” it said. “In Guanajuato the [federal government] promise of pacification is far from being met.”

Source: El Sol de León (sp)