A group of people arrived unannounced at the Christmas inn and when the partygoers asked them to leave, they returned with a commando of armed men and opened fire on the victims. That is the main hypothesis of the Guanajuato Prosecutor's Office about last weekend's massacre in Salvatierra, in which 11 young people were murdered and another 14 were injured. “All of them have injuries caused by projectiles fired by firearms,” regional prosecutor Navigio Agustín Gallardo said this Tuesday. The ministerial authorities also announced that 195 bullets were fired from seven weapons of different calibers and have said that they are already targeting a “group of people that operates in the area”, on the borders between the States of Guanajuato and Michoacán. , as probable suspects.
The so-called “infiltration” of the party has emerged as the main line of investigation of the authorities, who had already pointed to that motive since Monday night to explain the attack, in which nine men and two women died. The hypothesis arises from 35 interviews carried out since early last Sunday, on the night of the events. “A group of people arrived at the gathering place, so several of the attendees who were at the event asked them to leave,” said prosecutor Gallardo. The people left, but returned moments later to the former hacienda of San José del Carmen, where the gathering was being held. “They returned accompanied by another group of people who were carrying firearms and it was at that moment when they started shooting at those present,” he added.
The testimonies that have come to light indicate that the group of armed men shot indiscriminately when the party was about to end. The photograph taken by the attendees has become the symbol of indignation in Mexico and Guanajuato, where 2,400 investigation files for intentional homicide have been opened so far this year. It is the second state with the most murders, only behind Baja California. The commando set fire to seven vehicles before fleeing, according to the reconstruction of the State Prosecutor's Office. The authorities did not detail the criminal group involved in the massacre. However, the recovery of the weapons and projectiles is key because it has been identified that they were used to commit other crimes in the region, which allows us to tighten the noose on the material authors of the attack. “Once arrested they will be brought to justice,” said Gallardo.
The president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, described the attack as “an atrocious crime” and this week launched harsh criticism against state prosecutor Carlos Zamarripa, who has been in office for almost 14 years and whom he points out as one of the main perpetrators. of the wave of violence that is plaguing the region. The echoes of the massacre have been marked by the political beating and the exchange of reproaches between the López Obrador Government and various leaders of the National Action Party (PAN), the main opposition party, which has governed Guanajuato for 32 years. The opposition blames the security strategy of the federal Executive, known colloquially as “hugs, not bullets,” for the massacre. The ruling party attributes the tragedy to the failure of the PAN governments in the entity, which has become one of the main red spots in the country in recent years. Guanajuato will elect a new governor in June of next year, when there will also be presidential elections and to renew the Senate and the Lower House, among more than 20,000 local and federal positions in conflict.
Aside from the electoral controversy, López Obrador's statements were the subject of harsh criticism for linking the murder of the young people with the increase in drug consumption in Guanajuato. The mayor of Salvatierra, PAN member Germán Cervantes, said that he knew several of the victims and denied that they were “criminals.” The investigations of the Prosecutor's Office, at the center of media and federal government pressure to clarify the facts, also do not give any indication that the altercation was related to the demand for drugs in the entity, sunk for years in the cartel war. through the territory. State authorities already have a motive and a group of suspects, although they have not yet reported any arrests.
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