The violence epidemic in Mexico seems to have no end. This week it was confirmed that March is, so far, the most violent month of 2020. The 3,078 homicide victims counted show the urgency of putting a stop to a scourge that has been growing for the last decade.
MEXICO (SESNSP) – On Monday, April 20, 2020, Lopez Obrador said to the Mexican narcos “to calm down.” That very day, the record for malicious homicides in the country was broken. The National Information Center of the Executive Secretariat of the National Security System (SESNSP) reported 114 crimes.
That figure on Monday not only made it the most violent in 2020 but also positioned it as the second bloodiest in the entire six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The first was on December 1, 2018, when 127 people were murdered.
(Photo: DASSAEV TÉLLEZ ADAME/CUARTOSCURO)
In the multiple crime that occurred on Monday night, two women, a man and a minor, were killed. It is not yet known who carried out the attack.
In Guanajuato, the lifeless body of a man was abandoned in the vicinity of a business located on Plaza Juan Aldama and Magisterio streets. While in Irapuato, an armed group killed a guy who was traveling in a car.
The crime ended up in a chase between municipal and criminal troops. The region’s police allegedly arrested the men, but the information has not been confirmed.
In Guanajuato, the violence is out of control. The confrontations between the New Generation Jalisco Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has culminated in mass kidnappings, forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, shootings, curfews, clandestine graves, deaths by stray bullets and the militarization of previously prosperous and safe municipalities.
As in Guanajuato, the state of Guerrero counts the bodies by the dozens. The state registered nine intentional homicides. Among these victims are the 13 dead left by a 48-hour confrontation in the municipality of Leonardo Bravo.
On the morning of Sunday, April 19, the 911 alert calls denouncing the presence of armed civilian groups in the El Naranjo area began, prompting elements of the Mexican Army, National Guard, and state police to move to the region.
At the site, the troops were confronted by the civilians, the armed forces repelled the aggression and killed four alleged criminals and detained two more. As they toured the community, four more bodies were found. On Monday morning, five more bodies were found dead, bringing the total number of dead to 13.
El Naranjo has become the object of a heated struggle between the Southern Cartel and the United Front of Community Police of the State of Guerrero; however, none of the corpses were wearing the uniform that characterizes the organizations.
The violence has also moved to the region of Guaymas in Sonora, where several confrontations have been reported.
The most worrisome for Mexicans is the decomposition that is perceived every day in the country. The atrocity of the crimes is compounded by images of the crises unleashed by the new coronavirus and organized crime doing something the government is not: distribution of food.
The most obvious show of force began in Tamaulipas. Several Twitter and Facebook profiles posted photos of deliveries in the state. The images show several armed men dressed in dark clothes and with their faces covered handing out boxes of food, toiletries, and cleaning supplies. The boxes are marked with stickers that read “Gulf Cartel. In support of Heroica Matamoros. Mr. 46 Cowboy.” And next to the letters, the silhouette of a hat.
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador refuses to act against the narcos. He does not and will not face organized crime. On Monday, April 20, he told organized crime members and cartels to “calm down.” The narcos ignored him and gave the certainty that crime does not know of pandemics, social distance, or staying at home.
