Violence in many countries has waned during the coronavirus pandemic, but not in Mexico, and warfare between rival criminal gangs has devastated the state of Guanajuato.
Armed men stormed into a drug rehabilitation facility in central Mexico on Wednesday, killing 26 men and gravely wounding five others, in what the authorities said could be part of a fight over territory between rival criminal organizations.
The gunmen entered the rehabilitation center in Irapuato, in the state of Guanajuato, forced everyone to the ground and shot them, the local secretary of security said. Guns were found at the scene and a photo published by local media showed a cluster of men lying face down in what appeared to be a pool of blood.
“There is a turf war in the state between the Santa Rosa cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel,” said Elihú Ojeda, a spokesman for the state prosecutor’s office, in an interview. “We have had a series of events of this type.”
The assault was the latest in a string of high-profile attacks across Mexico, where the government’s inability to curb rising violence has become a national crisis and a political liability for the president.
While many Latin American countries have enjoyed a respite from daily criminality during coronavirus lockdowns, in Mexico, homicides have kept climbing. With more than 3,000 homicides, March was the deadliest month in Mexico since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in 2018.
The wave of violence has devastated Guanajuato, a center for automotive manufacturing and home to the city of San Miguel de Allende, a tourist draw and home to many American retirees.
