logo
Children among 10 killed by gunmen in crime-hit Mexican city

Children among 10 killed by gunmen in crime-hit Mexican city

Guanajuato recorded more than 3,000 murders last year, the most of any Mexican state. (AFP pic)
CELAYA : Gunmen killed 10 people including children in an attack on a house in a central Mexican city plagued by gang-related violence, authorities said today.
Several others were wounded in the shooting last night in Irapuato in Guanajuato state, the municipal government said in a statement.
Children were among the victims of the 'deplorable' attack, president Claudia Sheinbaum told her morning news conference, adding that authorities had launched an investigation.
Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico's deadliest state due to gang turf wars, according to official homicide statistics.
Criminal violence, most of it linked to drug trafficking, has claimed around 480,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and left more than 120,000 people missing.
Much of the violence in Guanajuato is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation.
Guanajuato recorded more than 3,000 murders last year, the most of any Mexican state, according to official figures.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Gunmen kill Mexico city counciller during basketball game
Gunmen kill Mexico city counciller during basketball game

The Sun

time06-07-2025

  • The Sun

Gunmen kill Mexico city counciller during basketball game

MEXICO CITY: Gunmen burst into a sports hall in central Mexico and shot dead a local government official attending an amateur basketball game on Saturday, local authorities said. Families and children had gathered at the sports center in the violent state of Guanajuato, where Ignacio Alejandro Roaro, a city council secretary in Apaseo el Grande, was killed. The city council 'strongly condemns the treacherous, despicable, and cowardly attack that occurred this Saturday, in which our colleague and friend, city council secretary Ignacio Alejandro Roaro, lost his life,' it said in a statement. Local media said an armed man had been arrested. Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico's deadliest state due to gang turf wars, according to official homicide statistics. In June, 11 people were shot dead and about 20 others injured in a shooting targeting a neighborhood party in Irapuato, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Apaseo el Grande. A month earlier, 17 bodies were found by investigators in an abandoned house in Irapuato. Much of the violence in Guanajuato is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation. Guanajuato recorded more than 3,000 murders last year, the most of any Mexican state and accounting for 10.5 percent of the cases nationwide, according to official figures. – AFP

Refuge at risk: Mexican drug rehab centers in cartels' crosshairs
Refuge at risk: Mexican drug rehab centers in cartels' crosshairs

Malay Mail

time03-07-2025

  • Malay Mail

Refuge at risk: Mexican drug rehab centers in cartels' crosshairs

CELAYA, July 4 — Mexican rehabilitation centers were supposed to provide sanctuary to drug users trying to kick their addictions. Instead, they became targets for the same ultra-violent cartels that traffic illegal narcotics. The refuges are reeling from a series of deadly attacks by criminal gangs fighting for control of the multibillion-dollar drugs trade, particularly in Guanajuato, Mexico's most violent state. Some of the people in rehab are pursued by drug dealers whom they owe money, Nicolas Perez, who leads a network of 180 rehabilitation centers in Guanajuato, told AFP. Perez, 55, said he had himself received calls from suspected criminals demanding he hand over some of the addicts at the centers he oversees. Instead, he contacts their families so they can take them to a safer location. Not even the managers of the facilities—some of which are run by former drug users and sometimes lack official permits—are safe from the gang violence. Three of them disappeared on June 2 after participating in a meeting of the network led by Perez. In some cases, the cartels murder people in rehab because they suspect they have been recruited by rival gangs, said David Saucedo, an independent expert on Mexican criminal groups. One of the worst massacres occurred in July 2020, when gunmen killed 26 people at a clinic in Irapuato in Guanajuato state. In the northwestern state of Sinaloa, where cartel infighting has caused a spike in violence, gunmen killed nine people this April in what was the seventh attack on a drug rehab clinic in months. In June, authorities launched an investigation into a suspicious fire that left 12 people dead at another such center in Guanajuato state. 'Always hope' Perez knows that his work will not stop drug use, but he hopes that it will at least make some difference. 'Even if they're afraid, people seek help,' he said. Perez has first-hand experience, having suffered from alcoholism and drug addiction 20 years ago. Today, he says his family is his biggest source of motivation. 'I'm a father, a grandfather, and I wouldn't like to leave this cursed legacy of ignorance,' he said. Azucena, a volunteer at the center, said she stopped using drugs more than a decade ago at a rehab center in the city of Celaya. 'There's always hope,' the woman, who asked not to be fully named for safety reasons, told AFP. Javier Torres quit using drugs at the same center, where he now mentors fellow addicts. After 10 years of abstinence, he returned to working as a school teacher and reestablished his relationship with his daughter, which he described as 'the best reward.' 'Costly cartel war' In Guanajuato state alone, the number of rehab centers has soared from 150 in 2016 to 290 today. 'We're starting to become more professional,' Perez said, estimating that a fifth of the people he helps manage to break free from their addictions. While President Claudia Sheinbaum likes to credit family values for the absence of drug use in Mexico on the scale of the United States' opioid crisis, addictions to hard drugs are increasing in Guanajuato. In 2021, 41 percent of people seeking drug use treatment at state-backed Youth Integration Centers reported having used methamphetamine in the previous 30 days, up from about 10 percent in the first half of 2015. Meth, a highly addictive synthetic drug, is now the main substance for which people seek treatment, said Nadia Robles, an official with the government's National Commission on Mental Health and Addictions. According to Saucedo, the increase in addictions in Guanajuato is the result of a fierce turf war. The Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of several powerful drug trafficking groups classified as terrorist organizations by US President Donald Trump's administration, is at war with the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang. The rivals are vying for control of a highway on a key trafficking route between a major Pacific sea port where synthetic drug ingredients arrive from Asia and the border with the United States. Cartels are also fighting for control of two important drug markets in Guanajuato—an industrial corridor, home to car assembly plants owned by companies such as Toyota and Mazda, and the popular tourist destination of San Miguel de Allende, Saucedo said. 'To finance this costly cartel war, they expand their consumer base,' he said.

Mass shooting in gang-plagued Mexican state leaves 12 dead
Mass shooting in gang-plagued Mexican state leaves 12 dead

Free Malaysia Today

time30-06-2025

  • Free Malaysia Today

Mass shooting in gang-plagued Mexican state leaves 12 dead

Guanajuato has been one of the most violent regions in Mexico for many years. (EPA Images pic) MEXICO CITY : At least 12 people were killed, including a teenager, and more wounded in a Tuesday night shooting in the central Mexican city of Irapuato, authorities said today. The attorney-general's office in Guanajuato, the violence-plagued state where Irapuato is located, said some 20 others were hospitalised with gunshot wounds. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said earlier yesterday that the victims included children, although the attorney-general's office later confirmed only one casualty was a minor, aged 17. 'It is very unfortunate what happened. An investigation is underway,' Sheinbaum said. Local media reported the shooting happened during an evening party celebrating a Catholic holiday, the Nativity of John the Baptist. A video circulating on social media showed people dancing in the patio of a housing complex while a band played in the background, before gunfire erupted. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the video. Guanajuato has been for many years one of the most violent regions in the country. On Tuesday, five other people were killed in other parts of the state, according to the attorney-general's office.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store