Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Guanajuato ‘is complicated,’ says AMLO as violence continues

The security situation in Guanajuato – Mexico’s most violent state in 2019 – is “complicated,” President López Obrador said on Monday.

“The Guanajuato situation is something we’re attending to . . .” López Obrador told reporters at his regular news conference. “Indeed, there’s a lot violence,” he added.

The president said the government is giving “special attention” to the state, explaining that the deployment of the National Guard is being reinforced and that the armed forces are also providing assistance to combat insecurity.

“We have a lot of [security] elements [in Guanajuato] . . . from the National Guard, the Secretariat of National Defense and the Secretariat of the Navy because yes, [the state] is messed up,” López Obrador said.

The president declared that the violence problem predates his government before conceding that the situation has worsened since he took office in December 2018.

A bloody turf war between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, considered Mexico’s most powerful and dangerous criminal organization, and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel over control of fuel theft, extortion and kidnapping is regarded as the main driver of violence in the state.

“. . .On average, 15% [of homicides] are in Guanajuato . . . the weekend was very difficult. . .” López Obrador said, referring to the murders of at least 48 people, including an attack in Villagrán Friday night that left nine people dead.

One in five murders over the weekend were in the Bajío, he added, referring to a region of central Mexico comprising parts of Guanajuato, Querétaro and Jalisco states.

The president, whose non-confrontational security strategy is coming under increased pressure after homicides hit a record high in 2019, insisted that violence is falling in the majority of the country, specifically citing Durango, Sinaloa, Nayarit and Tamaulipas.

However, the situation in Guanajuato is “out of the ordinary,” López Obrador said. “The crime rate increased a lot [due to] groups that are fighting.”

Once considered among Mexico’s safest states, Guanajuato recorded the highest number of homicides in Mexico for a second year in a row in 2019.

More than 3,500 people were murdered there last year, almost 700 more than the number of homicide victims in Mexico’s second most violent state, Baja California.

Source: Reforma (sp)

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Fonatur glorieta in Los Cabos

MND Local: Major infrastructure projects reflect growing pains in Los Cabos

0
New airport facilities and new highways are on the way in Los Cabos, as our local news roundup takes a look at what's happening in Baja California Sur.
mural honoring Alicia Matías

A mural at explosion site in CDMX honors Alicia Matías, who died saving her granddaughter

1
The 49-year-old heroine's death has been met with an outpouring of admiration while the nation mourns the 15 victims of last week's gas tanker explosion.
Sheinbaum waving the Mexican flag from the National Palace during the annual Grito de Independencia

In first ‘Grito’ as president, Sheinbaum honors Mexico’s heroines of Independence

10
Josefa Ortiz Téllez Girón, Leona Vicario, Gertrudis Bocanegra and Manuela Molina were all included in Sheinbaum's first presidential Grito, or Cry of Independence.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity