Endless bloodshed signals loss of government control
Security situation worsens as cartels, criminal gangs appear in command
The butcher had been killed and no one knew why. The execution occurred in broad daylight as he worked in a family-owned restaurant, one of many murders that go unsolved every week in Celaya, among Mexico's most dangerous cities.
His co-workers and family cried and drank tequila to calm their nerves, while a forensic expert walked among tables still covered with food left behind by customers who had fled during the shooting.
The plight of this city is part of the worsening security situation across the country. Police in places like Celaya say they are outgunned by criminal gangs in a war they are losing, while the federal forces meant to fight these battles often seem to show up after the shooting is over.
Many officials and analysts say that the endless bloodshed — a signal of a government losing control over the country — has been exacerbated by the transformative security strategy put in place by the current president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, shortly after taking office, which gutted intelligence operations and has failed to quell the carnage.
The violence has continued unabated throughout Mexico month after month: For a few days in August, drug cartels and gangs went on a rampage across four states, firing on police and troops, burning businesses and vehicles, and shutting down roads and businesses, including in Celaya. Days later, the son of Celaya's mayor was assassinated outside a pharmacy. More violence last week forced schools and universities to cancel classes in Zacatecas state.
Lopez Obrador has downplayed the violence under his rule and instead blamed the problem on previous administrations.
“Our adversaries are exaggerating,” the president said in a recent news conference. “It's like staged, it's propagandistic. There is no major problem, but they do want to grab that banner of violence.”
Yet in Celaya, the restaurant attack was just a normal Wednesday afternoon. Seemingly everyone in this city of some 500,000 people in central Mexico knows someone killed or missing. Homicides in the city were up 32% in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2021. Community volunteers meet weekly to search for bodies. The government is rarely able to prevent violence or bring its perpetrators to justice.
Celaya was once a prosperous and peaceful hub in Guanajuato state, with major national highways and railways connecting it to the United States. A vibrant auto industry drew Japanese families to live amid its beautiful colonial architecture, commuting to the factories of Honda and other international companies.
But Celaya took a brutal turn about four years ago, as one of Mexico's most powerful cartels, Jalisco New Generation, battled with a local criminal organization for turf. Now, the local government struggles to assert control over security, and many foreigners and wealthy Mexicans have relocated.
“It is called the cockroach phenomenon, they are crossing the borders from one state to another,” Victor Alejandro Aguilar Ledesma, the Catholic bishop of Celaya, said of the cartels.
He said the violence compelled him to speak out, which the church usually avoids. This summer, the nation was stunned when gunmen executed two priests in northern Mexico after a person they pursued took sanctuary in their church.
The issue, the bishop said, was the government's lack of an effective plan at a national level, an assessment shared by municipal police officials and the chief of security for Guanajuato state.