In the Mexican town of Salvatierra, authorities search for answers to massacre

A group of people arrived, unannounced, at the inn where a Christmas season party was being held. When the partygoers asked them to leave, they did so… but soon returned with a group of armed men, who opened fire on the victims. This is the main hypothesis put forward by the Attorney General’s Office of the Mexican state of Guanajuato, concerning the events around last weekend’s massacre in the town of Salvatierra. Eleven young people were murdered in the attack, while another 14 were severely injured.

“All of them have injuries caused by projectiles shot by firearms,” said Prosecutor Navigio Agustín Gallardo on December 19. The state authorities also announced that 195 bullets were fired from seven weapons of varying calibers. They are now targeting “a group of people that operates in the area,” along the borders of the Mexican states of Guanajuato and Michoacán. These are the likely suspects.

The so-called “infiltration” of the party has emerged as the main line of investigation into the attack in which nine men and two women died. Since early last Sunday — after the night of the events in the question — the authorities have carried out 35 interviews. “A group of people arrived at the gathering place… several of the attendees who were at the event asked them to leave,” Prosecutor Gallardo told the media. The people left, but returned moments later to the inn, which had formerly been the San José del Carmen Ranch. “They returned accompanied by another group of people who were carrying firearms. 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 photographs taken by the attendees have become symbols of indignation in Mexico and Guanajuato, where 2,400 investigations into cases of intentional homicide have been opened so far this past year. Behind the state of Baja California, Guanajuato has the second-highest homicide rate in Mexico.

According to the reconstruction carried out by the State Attorney General’s Office, the armed men set fire to seven vehicles before fleeing. While the authorities have not offered details about the criminal group involved in the massacre, they have recovered various weapons and projectiles. This is key: experts have identified these weapons as having been utilized to commit other crimes in the region, thus allowing the authorities to close in on those who committed the attack. “Once arrested, they will be brought to justice,” Gallardo affirmed.

This week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described the attack as “an atrocious crime.” He also launched harsh criticism against Carlos Zamarripa, the state’s attorney general, who has been in office for almost 14 years. President López Obrador points to him as one of the reasons for the wave of violence that is plaguing Guanajuato.

The echoes of the massacre have been marked by the harsh political exchanges between the López Obrador administration and various leaders of the National Action Party (PAN), the main opposition party, which has governed the state of Guanajuato for 32 consecutive years. The PAN, meanwhile, blames the security strategy of the federal government — known colloquially as “hugs, not bullets” — for the massacre. The ruling party attributes the tragedy to the failures of the PAN-led state government, given that Guanajuato has seen rising crime in recent years. Guanajuato will elect a new governor in June of 2024, when there will also be presidential and legislative elections. Overall, more than 20,000 local and federal posts are in contention next year.

López Obrador’s comments have been subject to harsh criticism for linking the murder of the young people at the inn with the increase in drug consumption in Guanajuato. The mayor of Salvatierra, PAN member Germán Cervantes, said he knew several of the victims and denied that any of them were “criminals.” The investigations by the State Attorney General’s Office — the institution at the center of media and federal pressure to clarify the facts of the case — also hasn’t offered any indication that the attack was related to the drug trade. This is despite the fact that, for years, Guanajuato has been submerged in a war between cartels.

State authorities already have a motive and a group of suspects, although they have not yet reported any arrests.

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