{"id":8522,"date":"2024-03-07T09:29:06","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T14:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8522"},"modified":"2024-03-07T09:29:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T14:29:06","slug":"mexicos-most-dangerous-city-for-police-refuses-to-give-up-or-negotiate-with-cartels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8522","title":{"rendered":"Mexico\u2019s Most Dangerous City for Police Refuses to Give Up or Negotiate with Cartels"},"content":{"rendered":"
An attacker lies dead on his back in the parking lot of a convenience store as a police investigator uses a measuring wheel while collecting evidence from a crime scene where a municipal policeman was shot dead, in Celaya, Mexico, Feb. 28, 2024. The policeman had been driving his wife to work when cartel gunmen opened fire on their car. The policeman killed one attacker before dying. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A dead man lay on his back in the parking lot of a convenience store in late February when journalists rolled in to the north-central Mexico city of Celaya to interview police. A spray of bullet casings and spent projectiles lay around the corpse, a sight all too common in Guanajuato state, which has Mexico\u2019s highest number of homicides<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

A policeman had been driving his wife to work on Feb. 28 when cartel gunmen \u2014 who had apparently followed from them home \u2014 opened fire on their car. The policeman killed one attacker before dying.<\/p>\n

His wife and 1-year-old daughter were unharmed. But a week earlier, cartel gunmen shot a police officer to death while she took her 8-year-old daughter to school. They killed the girl, too.<\/p>\n

A bus driver is comforted after witnessing a murder inside his bus, in Celaya, Mexico, Feb. 29, 2024. Celaya has refused to follow President Andres Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s policy of not confronting the cartels, and refused his policy of encouraging local people to seek out peace pacts with the gangs. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Welcome to Celaya, arguably the most dangerous place, per capita, to be a cop in North America. At least 34 police officers have been killed in this city of 500,000 people in the last three years. In Guanajuato state, its population just over 6 million, more police were shot to death in 2023<\/a><\/span> \u2014 about 60 \u2014 than in all of the United States.<\/p>\n

As Mexico\u2019s June 2 presidential election approaches,<\/a><\/span> this city lies at the crossroads of a national debate about security policy.<\/p>\n

Celaya has declined to follow President Andres Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s policy of not confronting the cartels, and ignored his policy of encouraging local people to seek out peace pacts with the gangs. When Roman Catholic bishops announced<\/a><\/span> they had met with cartel bosses in February to negotiate a truce between warring gangs, L\u00f3pez Obrador said, \u201cI think it is very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s president dislikes police and would like to rely on the military for everything. He dissolved the old federal police, accusing them of corruption, and cut almost all federal funding for training and equipping local police.<\/p>\n

Unlike some other cities, Celaya, a farming and industrial hub northwest of Mexico City, has refused to eliminate its local police force and then rely almost completely on soldiers and the quasi-military National Guard for policing.<\/p>\n

A municipal police officer monitors social media sites at a police control and monitoring center, in Celaya, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Celaya, unusual among municipal police, does its own intelligence and investigation work. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That means it has had to take on the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, a gang so unreflectively violent that any sort of truce or negotiation was probably out of the question anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Santa Rosa de Lima cartel controlled Celaya,\u201d said Guanajuato security analyst David Saucedo. \u201cThe current mayor, Javier Mendoza, made the decision to break the criminal control. It was a decision that cost the life of his son,\u201d who was shot to death last year.<\/p>\n

Now the cartel is trying to hunt Celaya\u2019s cops into submission, or extinction. Two officers were killed in their car Sunday in Irapuato, the next town over, and the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel left a claim of responsibility.<\/p>\n

Killings of police in Mexico rose last year even as L\u00f3pez Obrador says overall homicide numbers have dropped under his administration.<\/p>\n

Evidence markers indicate the location of bullet casings at a crime scene where police say a fellow officer was fatally shot by cartel gunmen, in Celaya, Mexico, Feb. 28, 2024. At least 34 police officers have been killed in this city of 500,000 in the last three years. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Police chief Jes\u00fas Rivera Peralta speaks during an interview at police headquarters in Celaya, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Rivera Peralta says half of all the suspects arrested in Celaya are now between 14 and 24 years old. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe safety of the public is not something you can negotiate. Never,\u201d said Celaya police chief Jes\u00fas Rivera Peralta. \u201cThese criminals have no values \u2026 we can\u2019t negotiate with the devil, that\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera Peralta said he is proud of the mayor\u2019s slogan: \u201cWith everything, come what may, without fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the president\u2019s approach, Mexico has both a shortage of police \u2014 there are none in some towns \u2014 and, at the same time, thousands of experienced former federal police officers who chose not to join the militarized National Guard are now unemployed.<\/p>\n

Celaya decided to hire some of them.<\/p>\n

Municipal police officers chat with a resident while on patrol in her neighborhood in Celaya, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Celaya, a farming and industrial hub northwest of Mexico City, has refused to eliminate its local police force, as some cities have done. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rivera Peralta, like most of his force, is a former member of the federal police. They\u2019re almost all from outside Celaya. They live in secure barracks and go out only to patrol, earning the nickname \u201cFedepales,\u201d a combination of the word \u201cfederal\u201d and \u201cmunicipal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because they\u2019re outsiders, the new cops are less likely to have ties to the cartel, Saucedo said.<\/p>\n

Most of the locals who used to work as municipal police have resigned, and it\u2019s easy to see why. Estefani, a Celaya policewoman who would not give her last name for security reasons, narrowly escaped an attack as she drove to work in early 2023. The cartel apparently knew her route.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stopped at a red light, and all I saw were two men on a motorcycle shooting at me,\u201d Estefani said. \u201cI was hit by three rounds. One shot went into the left side of my face \u2026 the bullet was lodged in my neck.\u201d<\/p>\n

As blood streamed, she walked to a clinic. Doctors managed to stabilize her.<\/p>\n

It was all too common.<\/p>\n

A member of the Mexican National Guard cordons off a crime scene where a passenger was shot dead inside a bus, in Celaya, Mexico, Feb. 29, 2024. As Mexico\u2019s June 2 presidential election approaches, this city lies at the crossroads of a national debate about security policy. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cRight now, most of the attacks are coming precisely from motorcycles. There are always two people on them, dressed in black. That seems to be a trend,\u201d said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.<\/p>\n

The attackers are usually young men, often carrying an AR-15 rifle with the stock removed to make it shorter.<\/p>\n

Celaya police are now sensitive to motorcycles.<\/p>\n

A couple of residents, who would not give their names for fear of reprisals, spoke disparagingly of the \u201cfedepales,\u201d accusing them of stopping motorcycles to check for stolen vehicles, and then taking the bikes.<\/p>\n

But during a ride-along with police performing routine checks on motorcycles, other residents waved a friendly greeting.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador would like to rely more on the military; he wants to hand over the National Guard to army control<\/a><\/span> \u2014 but at the same time, he doesn\u2019t want troops to directly confront the cartels.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador, center, reviews military troops before the start of the annual Independence Day parade in the capital\u2019s main square, the Zocalo, in Mexico City, Sept. 16, 2023. Mexico\u2019s president dissolved the old federal police, accusing them of corruption, and cut almost all federal funding for training and equipping local police. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That has led to strange scenes. For example, in the neighboring state of Michoacan, a National Guard or army truck may roll by a corner store on a patrol while inside the store everything costs 40% more than normal because its owner is forced to pay protection money to the local cartel.<\/p>\n

The National Guard doesn\u2019t arrest many suspects or investigate crimes. Like the military, it mainly follows orders and arrests criminals only if they are caught in the act.<\/p>\n

Celaya, unusual among municipal police, does its own intelligence and investigation work.<\/p>\n

Municipal police officers conduct a pedestrian stop and search while on patrol in a neighborhood of Celaya, Mexico, Feb. 28, 2024. Most of Celaya\u2019s municipal police force are former member of the federal police, earning the nickname \u201cFedepales,\u201d a combination of the word \u201cfederal\u201d and \u201cmunicipal.\u201d (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat good does it do to have soldiers and National Guard in the street if they don\u2019t do anything? They only put up crime scene tape after something has already happened,\u201d said Amadeo Hern\u00e1ndez Barajas, a farmer in Acambaro, a town south of Celaya. He said the cartel forces many farmers to pay a tax on each ton of corn produced.<\/p>\n

Claudia Sheinbaum, the presidential candidate for L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s Morena party in the June 2 elections, vows to stick to his approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will address public safety from a perspective of addressing the causes and not allowing impunity,\u201d Sheinbaum said at her first campaign event. \u201cWe are not going to engage in the idea of \u2018a heavy hand,\u2019 that is not our style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum waves during her opening campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City, March 1, 2024. Sheinbaum, the ruling party candidate in the June 2 elections, vows to stick to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador\u2019s approach on public safety. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idea that the cartels will be left without recruits, as government scholarship and training programs provide youths with other opportunities, appears a long way off. The gangs have started recruiting younger hitmen, as well as experienced fighters from South America and northern Mexico.<\/p>\n

Rivera Peralta says half of all the suspects arrested in Celaya are now between 14 and 24 years old. They have also caught gunmen from the Scorpions, a gang based in the border city of Matamoros, and several former guerrilla fighters from Colombia.<\/p>\n

Opposition presidential candidate X\u00f3chitl G\u00e1lvez is taking a different approach. She pledges to double the number of National Guard troopers but also restore training and equipment funding to local police forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t have police who will take care of us unless we take care of our police,\u201d she said at her campaign launch.<\/p>\n

Opposition presidential candidate X\u00f3chitl G\u00e1lvez waves during her opening campaign rally in Irapuato, Mexico, March 1, 2024. G\u00e1lvez pledges to double the number of National Guard officers but also restore training and equipment funding to local police forces. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For their part, police in Celaya are putting their trust in \u201cthe man in the tower,\u201d a standing firing post welded to the bed of a pickup. The \u201ctower\u201d has a higher and wider range of vision for the officer to spot any attack coming \u2014 and a Galil automatic rifle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is our front line. He is the spearhead to resist any attack.\u201d said one officer.<\/p>\n

– Mark Stevenson, AP News<\/em><\/p>\n

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A dead man lay on his back in the parking lot of a convenience store in late February when journalists rolled in to the north-central Mexico city of Celaya to interview police. A spray of bullet casings and spent projectiles lay around the corpse, a sight all too common in Guanajuato state, which has Mexico\u2019s highest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":8524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/06a6be0\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4512x3008+0+0\/resize\/2400x1600!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2F14%2Fc9%2F54e0e4164fcdd0e1a2a2ac2edfc2%2Faa9d650a8a244c038bdd80d1e445c7c2","fifu_image_alt":"Mexico\u2019s Most Dangerous City for Police Refuses to Give Up or Negotiate with Cartels","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-public-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8525,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8522\/revisions\/8525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}