Nine people were killed, including four women, when gang members opened fire in a Mexican bar, in the state of Guanajuato, November 10.
The massacre was the third instance during the last three months that violent gangs have attacked and killed bar patrons. Police say there are territorial disputes between local gangs and drug cartels, specifically the Jalisco cartel and Sinaloa cartel, that are causing the violence that plagues Guanajuato.
The attack on Wednesday happened in Apace el Alto in Guanajuato, and the attackers identified themselves as members of a gang called Santa Rosa de Lima, in posters that they left all over the bar floor, and were covered in blood.
The leader of the gang, known as “El Marro,” which translates into “sledgehammer” in English, is in prison. The posters said the bar owner was allied with the Jalisco cartel.
Images from the scene showed dead customers and servers in a gruesome scene.
Officials said that two women were wounded in the attack but survived.
The state of Guanajuato has a history of violence. Just a few weeks ago, on October 15, 12 people were murdered in the city of Irapuato, which is also located in the state of Guanajuato. Several shooters burst into a local bar and opened fire, killing six men and six women in cold blood.
On September 21, unidentified shooters entered a bar in the city of Tarimoro, Guanajuato, and murdered ten men.
A security analyst in the crime-ridden state said that the gangs target specific bars in the area, whose owners they believe are cooperating with a rival gang. The owners may have refused to pay the attacking gang the demanded protection money, or they could be in business with rival gangs.
Anyone involved in drug dealing, cartel business or lookouts can be the target of an attack, but innocent bar attendees get caught in the crossfire.
Guanajuato has become the most violent state in Mexico, and has recorded the most murders out of all the Mexican states this year. The Mexican federal security ministry announced that Guanajuato had 2,115 murders from January to August 2022.
The war in Guanajuato is a battle for control between two powerful drug cartels – the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco cartel. The Sinaloa cartel appears to be working with the Santa Rosa de Lima gang in its fight against the Jalisco cartel.
Mexican President, Manuel Obrador, promised to reduce gang violence in the country when he took office in 2018, but it appears that he and his government are struggling to control the drug cartels and the bloodshed.