On Wednesday evening, an ambush-style assault claimed the lives of four municipal police officers in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico.
The local authorities confirmed the incident on Wednesday, January 24, 2024. The attack occurred on a rural roadway near the city, a region notorious for its unstable security situation.
The officers, all members of the Celaya municipal police force, have not been named. Their attackers are still unidentified.
Celaya, a city in the north-central Mexican state of Guanajuato, has been a hotspot for violence, largely due to disputes involving the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco drug cartel. Guanajuato state currently has the highest homicide rate in the country, reflecting the region’s deep-seated violence issues.
In 2023, nearly 60 police officers lost their lives in Guanajuato. This statistic represents a significant part of the 412 police officers killed across Mexico in 2023, shedding light on the hazardous circumstances law enforcement faces in the state.
The national figure indicates an approximately 2% rise in police deaths compared to the previous year, suggesting a concerning pattern throughout Mexico.
In a separate incident, in Guerrero, a southern state, authorities discovered the bullet-riddled bodies of two state detectives on the outskirts of Taxco, a town known for its colonial charm and tourist attractions. This incident contributes to the ongoing series of violent acts unsettling various parts of Mexico.
The escalating violence in states like Guanajuato is largely attributed to the activities of criminal gangs and drug cartels, often embroiled in deadly disputes over drug trafficking routes. In 2023, the state reported over 3,000 homicides, a shocking number underlining the severity of its security crisis.
This endemic violence in Mexico can be traced back to the federal government’s controversial military offensive against drug cartels which began in December 2006. Since then, the country has been trapped in a spiral of drug-related violence, with over 420,000 murders officially recorded.