Armed attack in “La Palapa”, Guanajuato, left three dead and two injured

Around 3:00 p.m. on March 7, an armed commando broke into the facilities of the tourist center”The Palapa“, located in the town of Celaya, Guanajuato. Preliminary reports indicated that there were at least six subjects who arrived at the scene in several trucks.

Once inside the leisure establishment, they shot at the people inside and set fire to the facilities. According to the official report of the Secretary of Citizen Security (CSS), elements of the municipal police arrived on the scene, as well as elements of civil protection and firefighters after receiving the report of the detonations and the fire.

The smokescreen generated by the flames was seen by residents of surrounding communities, who alerted security agencies and shared images via social media.

Upon arrival, authorities found several people with gunshot wounds, including three had already lost their lives. In addition, medical attention was requested for two other injured people.

“As part of the treatment of the injured and the extinguishing of the fire, a search operation has been set up between the three levels of government in order to trace the probable perpetrators,” the Secretariat said in a statement. communicated. Until no arrests were reported for these events.

Reports awaiting confirmation indicated that the victims included two women, who died from gunfire, and a man, who would have burned alive.

The various local security companies deployed an operation throughout the municipality of Celaya. In addition, the tourist center remained under the protection of municipal, state and federal authorities, while the office of the state attorney general (FGE) began with expert work to conduct the surveys.

Although in the statement the municipal government expressed its strong condemnation of these events and “any aggression against the population of Celayense”, the mayor Javier Mendoza Marquez He made no statement in this regard. Along the same lines, the Governor of the State, Diego Sinhue Rodriguez Vallejoalso chose not to make any statement alluding to this attack.

A video was shared on social media, apparently captured by one of the attackers, who repeatedly shouted “Pure four letters to see!while showing the fire that the order has put in the palapas of the place.

And although it was not possible to identify any of the individuals who allegedly took part in this attack, it is presumed that they were members of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), since the slogan “Puro four letters” has been used several times by this organization to announce its arrival in different regions of the country.

In recent years, the state of Guanajuato has been the scene of multiple acts of violence, mainly due to clashes between the CJNG and its main rival in the entity, the cartel of Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL).

Although until now the reason why the alleged hitmen attacked the “Las Palapas” center is unknown, the assaults in leisure establishments such as bars, restaurants and canteens were common during the struggle between the two cartels for control of the territory.

This, according to security specialist David Saucedo, is due to the fact that the retail sale of drugs is customary in many of these places and that criminal groups often commit acts of violence in the shops where the drugs are sold. of competence.

Two of the events that most shocked the population of Guanajuato in 2022 are the massacres of the “El Jarras” bar, from Tarimoro (September 21) and Bar Lexus (November 9), both written by CSRL.