The central state of Guanajuato, home to a number of multinational corporations, continues to lead Mexico in homicides with at least 216 murders registered so far this month.
The figures were recently released in a report by the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (Spanish abbr: SSPC).
Astonishingly, Guanajuato this month has reported twice as many murders as the violence-plagued Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, where an intense intra-cartel clash between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Chapitos and La Mayiza, has been ravaging the state since September.
Guanajuato experienced 20 murders last Wednesday alone, the bloodiest day for the state so far this year.
The new year has brought little change in terms of Guanajuato’s security situation.
In 2024, Guanajuato accounted for ten-and-a-half percent of all reported homicides in Mexico, with an average of 8.4 murders each day in the state.
Once an oasis of calm that attracted major multinational investment, Guanajuato has evolved into one of the most dangerous states in Mexico, with 2,199 homicides reported in 2024, the highest total of any state.
There was an increase in homicides involving three or more victims last year in Guanajuato as the CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (Spanish abbr: CSRL), and at least two factions of the Gulf Cartel (Spanish abbr: CDG) engage in a three-cornered struggle for control of drug trafficking and other illegal activity.
Just last week, three bodies were found hanging from a bridge near the Mazda manufacturing plant in the municipality of Salamanca, a practice common of cartels in Mexico.
A gunfight between cartel operatives and the security forces left eight gangsters dead in the early morning on 6 January in the municipality of Yuriria in the southern portion of the central state of Guanajuato.
The gunfight began when the cartel operatives attacked a joint patrol of army personnel and state police officers.
Three police officers were moderately wounded.
Following the gun battle, the security forces seized four vehicles and 12 firearms.
The dead assailants were believed to be members of the CSRL, which is based in Guanajuato.
One of the seized vehicles was linked to a 16 December shootout between the state police and cartel gunmen which left four officers dead in the municipality of Uriangato, just south of Yuriria.
Two other officers were wounded in the gunfight.
A recent media report stated that Guanajuato currently leads the country in attacks on police officers.
In response, the state police in Guanajuato recently received approval to be issued heavier weapons to combat rampant cartel violence.
The Secretariat of National Defense (Spanish acronym: SEDENA) granted the request made by Guanajuato’s governor, Libia Denisse Garcia Munoz Ledo.
Details have not been provided, but state police most likely will be issued heavier caliber automatic weapons with an improved rate of fire, such as belt-fed medium machine guns or heavier machine guns mounted on armored vehicles.
The new weapons are meant to add a level of parity between the police and cartel operatives, who often are armed with military-style long guns and automatic weapons of their own.
On 18 December, two municipal police officers were shot to death in the municipality of Jerecuaro in southeast Guanajuato.
In another incident, a state police officer and two state penitentiary guards were shot dead at 0230 on 10 December at their homes in the municipality of El Sauz, just south of Celaya.
The three victims were reportedly brothers who lived next to each other.
On 4 December, a state police officer and her teenage daughter were gunned down as they drove on a highway in the southwestern municipality of Abasolo near the Guanajuato border with Michoacan State.
The latest attacks follow the early morning car bombings on 24 October against municipal police stations in southern Guanajuato.
In the first attack, a car rigged with explosives detonated next to an unoccupied police pickup truck in a downtown area of the municipality of Jerecuaro.
No casualties were reported but at least 15 buildings suffered extensive damage.
An hour later, a second car bomb detonated outside a police station in the town of Acambaro, about 20 miles southwest of Jerecuaro.
The blast wounded three municipal police officers, in addition to damaging the front of the station and shattering windows of nearby buildings.
The head of the SSPC, Omar Garcia Harfuch, linked the two car bombings to a turf war between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Spanish abbr: CJNG) and the CSRL.
Cartel violence is especially intense in the cities of Leon, Celaya, Apaseo el Grande, Irapuato and Salamanca, all of which host multinationals. But no part of Guanajuato is inviolate.
Attacks against bars, restaurants and nightclubs are common. Some are staged as reprisals against rivals, others to extort owners or enforce demands for narcotics distribution rights.
At 2130 on 30 November, several gunmen using military-style rifles opened fire on a collection of outdoor food stands near an interchange for the Queretaro-Celaya highway in Apaseo el Grande, killing eight and wounding two.
Two of the deceased were firefighters assigned to the Toyota manufacturing plant, located in Apaseo el Grande near the Guanajuato border with Queretaro State.
The following day, gunmen at 1420 fired indiscriminately at a crowd watching a baseball game in the Caleras de Amexhe community in Apaseo el Grande.
One person was killed and five others wounded.
Caleras de Amexhe, located adjacent to Federal Highway 45, is near several industrial parks housing North American, European and Japanese manufacturing facilities.
The Toyota plant is just over four miles away.
Three off-duty municipal police officers were killed at 1730 on 23 October when gunmen opened fire inside the MicheIts bar in downtown Celaya.
The officers were the assailants’ intended targets.
Gunmen on 4 October killed three employees at the Belfast Bar in downtown Celaya.
The shooting occurred while the employees were preparing to open, with no patrons inside the establishment at the time.
The following day, a shooting at a Codigo Postal 19 bar in downtown Celaya left four people dead and another wounded.
Codigo Postal 19, a popular chain of sports bars, had previously shuttered four bars in Celaya in March 2022 after an attack at one location left five people dead.
On 27 June, gunmen killed five people in Bar Life, in Celaya.
Foreigners rarely are targeted by the gangs. They are at risk, however, if they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Only the most essential travel should be undertaken to Guanajuato.
Companies operating in the state should constantly review and, if necessary, upgrade physical-security measures and train personnel in procedural security.
Road travel in Guanajuato is dangerous, especially around Celaya and Salamanca. It should be curtailed to the extent possible, with no travel undertaken after dark.
The US Embassy has restricted employees from traveling on Highway 45D in Guanajuato and to points south. The no-go zone includes Celaya, Irapuato and Salamanca.
Forays to local restaurants and bars to sample nightlife are discouraged in the strongest possible terms. Visitors to the state should patronize only bars and restaurants at business-class hotels.
Extortion approaches, especially those communicated in person, should be referred to security professionals, who should determine the seriousness of the threat and bolster the security of both personnel working at the site and the property.
Threats to vendors, and in some cases from vendors, also should be referred to security professionals.