Gun battles leave nine 'drug cartel members' and one police officer dead in Guanajuato, Mexico's deadliest state
At least nine suspected cartel members were killed and a state police officer was shot dead during a series of gun battles Monday.
Authorities said the shootouts in the north-central state of Guanajuato started before dawn near the hamlet of Santa Rosa de Lima, the stronghold of a cartel of the same name.
State police, soldiers and National Guard agents rushed to respond to reports of armed men in the area, and all three forces came under fire from heavily armed assailants in vans, SUVs and pickup trucks, officials said.
A state police officer was hit and later died at a hospital following the first clash between security forces and alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Five assailants were also reported killed.
As reinforcements arrived, they also came under attack and returned fire.
A member of Mexico's security forces applies CPR to a suspected member of a drug cartel killed early Monday in the north-central state of Guanajuato.
The body of a male drug cartel member lies in the middle of a road in the Guanajuato town of Santa Rosa de Lima following a series of gunfights that ended with nine purported drug cartel members and one state police officer dead
Military gear and weapons were confiscated from the scene of a shooting where Mexican security forces found four dead bodies Monday in the north-central state of Guanajuato
Guanajuato governor Diego Sinhue RodrÃguez said a National Guard soldier was also shot in the leg. The injury was non-life threatening.
Officials said the combined law enforcement forces found a total of four other bodies, many of them bullet-ridden, in a variety of vehicles in the area around Santa Rosa de Lima, which is an agricultural area with many dirt roads.
They reported seizing 10 assault rifles, 14 grenades and 30 gasoline bombs from various vehicles.
An SUV was among several vehicles that Mexican law enforcement confiscated following an encounter with members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel that left one state police officer and five cartel members dead
Guanajuato state officials said the combined law enforcement forces found a total of four other bodies, many of them bullet-ridden, in a variety of vehicles in the area around Santa Rosa de Lima, which is an agricultural town with many dirt roads
A Guanajuato-based security analyst, David Saucedo, said the shootouts initially erupted when Jalisco New Generation Cartel gunmen, known by its Spanish initials CJNG Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generació, attacked rivals from Santa Rosa de Lima. Both groups of gunmen then apparently fired on responding law enforcement officers.
'For some reason, the CJNG decided to start an offensive in this zone,' Saucedo said.
Authorities said hand-lettered drug gang signs were found in some of the vehicles, though they did not release the messages.
But a photo from the scene showed that one of the signs read 'People of Santa Rosa de Lima, the CJNG has arrived in your town, we arrived to clean up this bunch of extortionists and killers of innocent people.'
Saucedo said the home-grown Santa Rosa Gang has taken to extorting protection payments from local people, but the Jalisco cartel has also staged its offensive with cruelty, forcing some in areas controlled by the rival gang to flee their homes and properties.
A Mexican soldier stands over the body of an alleged cartel member who died Monday in the north-central town of Santa Rosa de Lima
Military ammunition seized from alleged drug cartel members following a series of gun battles before dawn Monday in Guanajuato, Mexico
Thousands have been killed in Guanajuato since Santa Rosa de Lima began a turf war to fight off a takeover by the Jalisco cartel in 2017.
Now the state is at the center of a proxy war between drug cartels, after the Sinaloa cartel entered the conflict backing Santa Rosa de Lima with guns, money and hired killers, said Sophia Huett, the Guanajuato security commissioner.
That same kind of proxy war made the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, a killing ground in the years around 2010.
Assault rifle ammunition that was used by alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in an attack that left one state cop and five of its members dead
Pictured is one of nine purported drug cartel members killed during a string of gun battles in the north-central Mexican state of Guanajuato on Monday. The state has become the deadliest in Mexico, with 4,190 homicides from January to November 2020
Federal forces guard the site where at least nine alleged cartel members and one state policeman were killed in Guanajuato, Mexico, on Monday
The Santa Rosa Cartel grew up in the farming hamlet of the same name by stealing fuel from government pipelines and refineries and robbing freight from trains. After authorities stepped up security around trains and pipelines over the last two years, the gang turned to extortion and kidnapping.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has been Mexico's most violent cartel in recent years, aggressively expanding its reach across the country through bold attacks on rival gangs and government forces.
Its leader, Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera, is wanted by the United State Department of Justice. The DEA is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction. Oseguera's two oldest American-born children are in custody of U.S. authorities on drug and money laundering charges,
The conflict has made Guanajuato - home to charming San Miguel Allende, a popular retirement spot for Americans - Mexico's deadliest state, where at least 82 people were killed during the first week of 2021.
Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera , the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful criminal groups. The DEA is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction
At least 4,190 murders were registered from January to November 2020. The homicide tally for December has not been released yet.
Government showed 3,290 homicides were reported in 2018 and slightly increased the following year to 3,540.
In September, gunmen killed 11 people in a bar in Jaral del Progreso near the border with Michoacán state. More than two dozen people were killed in an unregistered drug rehabilitation center in Irapuato in July.
Late last week, nine people were killed and one wounded when gunmen opened fire at a wake in the city of Celaya, near Santa Rosa de Lima. Officials said gunmen arrived late Thursday and opened fire on a group of people.
The victims were standing outside a home in a low-income neighborhood where a wake was being held for a young man who himself had been gunned down nearby a couple of days before.