Last weekend, an armed commando burst into a Christmas inn in a former hacienda in Salvatierra (Guanajuato) and opened fire on the attendees. Twelve people were killed in the massacre and 11 more were injured. A photograph of the young people before the attack stood as testimony to the crisis of violence that is plaguing the entity and that leaves no one safe. After the tragedy was made known, came the umpteenth parade of condolences from the Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, from Morena, and Governor Diego Sinhué and Mayor Germán Cervantes, from the National Action Party (PAN). 48 hours after what happened, the usual promises to take the investigations to their final consequences have been met with yet another exchange of reproaches in the heat of the 2024 elections, in which the charges of all those involved are up for grabs. The ruling party claims the failure of 32 years of PAN authorities. The opposition questions the shipwreck of the federal security policy known as “hugs, not bullets.” And with this episode he rehearses how to politically capitalize on the wave of violence that does not stop. While mourning invades Guanajuato, tragedy fully enters the campaign.
López Obrador ignited the controversy by linking the massacre with drug consumption, ensuring that it is one of the regions with the most consumption in the country. The president's response came after opening his daily press conference with the first trip of the Mayan Train, one of the flagship projects of his government, and complaining about the media coverage the inauguration received. His positioning also occurred at a critical moment marked by criticism of the militarization of security tasks, a model from which he promised to distance himself, but he did not do so.
Despite ideological and partisan differences, the last three federal Administrations – that of Felipe Calderón (PAN, 2006-2012), Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI, 2012-2018) and the current one – have given preponderance to the Armed Forces in the so-called war on drugs. The three have chosen stigma and commonplaces to avoid delving into criticism of their security strategies or the failure of the State. Last weekend there were more than 170 violent deaths in Mexico, more than 30 in Guanajuato alone, noted academic Catalina Pérez Correa. Before Salvatierra, in Salamanca four other people were killed in a barbershop, three more were injured.
“It is urgent to change the security policy of the federal government. This barbarism cannot continue,” said Xóchitl Gálvez, the presidential candidate of the opposition alliance led by the PRI and the PAN. The applicant left it until later to say what her proposal was. She also left criticism of the state government for another time. “Can't you make a self-criticism because it's from the PAN? Can't you point out, as thousands of victims denounce, the behavior and criminal links of the Guanajuato prosecutor?” commented Citlalli Hernández, the general secretary of Morena.
The spotlight is on prosecutor Carlos Zamarripa, who has amassed unprecedented power in 14 years of administration and who still has five more years to serve in a State where only two out of every 100 cases are resolved and where eight out of every ten inhabitants They feel insecure, according to official data. “He has enormous political strength, he has a lot of protection, it is as if he were the governor, supported by groups with a lot of influence, but it is not possible,” said López Obrador after asking that he be removed from his position. The president also left the self-criticism for later: he said nothing about the crusade against the huachicol in the Bajío that he launched as soon as his Government began, the desire to weaken the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, the fight for the territory led by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel that terrorizes the population.
So far this year there have been 2,400 intentional homicides in the state, according to the latest data from the National Public Security System. Only in Baja California have more been committed. “The arrogance of state authorities who demonstrate their inability has our state plunged into uncertainty as to whether or not we have the security we need,” said Malú Mícher, Morena senator for Guanajuato, joining the demand to dismiss the prosecutor. “A strategy is urgently needed to restore peace throughout the country,” said PAN legislator Alejandra Reynoso. “There is no coordination in security,” said Claudia Sheinbaum, the presidential standard-bearer for López Obrador’s party in late November. He did not comment on Salvatierra on his social networks.
The security crisis emerged as a key issue in the upcoming elections. Since Morena inaugurated the race for governor last month, he blamed the PAN administrations for turning it into the “most dangerous state in Mexico.” Alma Alcaraz, the Morenoist standard bearer in the entity, echoed the same slogan after the tragedy in Salvatierra and said that it is “what we experience every day in Guanajuato.” Libia García Muñoz Ledo, the candidate called to preserve the PAN bastion, promised a change in security policy. “What I can tell you at the moment is that we are working on a new strategy with expert people, but within the framework of the campaign we cannot yet make a proposal,” she said. Doubts about the security of campaigning politicians also loom over next June's election.
The municipal president recognized that the three levels of Government have a responsibility and said that he was assuming his. He also criticized López Obrador, criticized for re-victimizing the young people who died. “I knew many of them, they were good young people, they were not criminals,” said Cervantes. He also reiterated his confidence in state authorities to find those responsible. “In both cases, multidisciplinary work cells specializing in homicides have been assigned, who will work immediately and permanently until the clarification and arrest of those responsible is achieved,” said the State Prosecutor's Office regarding the attacks in Salvatierra and Salamanca. Behind the electoral noise, while everyone raises their hand to come to power but almost no one steps forward to assume their responsibility, while the tragedy is politicized, the people of Guanajuato seek answers to a spiral of violence that seems endless. And they will have to go to the polls in six months.
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