Mexico: 2 Bodies With Gunshot Wounds, One Wrapped in Plastic, Found Near Guanajuato River Amid Drug Cartel Wars
A dead man wrapped in black plastic bags was found Monday on the edge of a river in Mexico's state of Guanajuato plagued by turf wars between rival Mexican drug cartels.
According to Periódico AM, residents discovered the body behind the San Juanito neighborhood in Irapuato near the Guanajuato River at around 1:30 p.m.
Authorities said the unidentified man, wearing a white and blue striped shirt and navy blue jeans, has gunshot wounds in his body.
According to local reports, this was the second corpse discovered in the same spot for two days in a row. The first man, who also had gunshot wounds, was found on Sunday morning.
Authorities also received a report about a lifeless man left on a dirt road in El Cerrito de las Huertas town in Irapuato at around 3:30 p.m. on Monday.
Responding law enforcement officers found the man with several blows to the face, but they realized he was no longer alive after taking his vital signs.
Authorities said the unidentified man, who appeared to be between 30 and 34 years old, was wearing a white shirt, light blue denim pants, and brown shoes.
Another body, with gunshot wounds and signs of physical abuse, was found in Puertas del Campestre subdivision in Celaya, also at Guanajuato, at around 11:40 a.m. on Monday.
Police identified the victim as Alejandro "N." Authorities believed that the 35-year-old man died two or three days prior as it already showed signs of decomposition. Police said the victim's relatives found him inside his house after not hearing from him for a few days.
Another man was found dead in front of his house at San José de Bernalejo community in Irapuato at around 9:30 p.m. on Monday.
Police identified the 20-year-old victim as Victor "N." Witnesses told investigators that the man was standing in front of his house when two men on a motorcycle shot him and fled the scene.
In Santíago Maravatío at Guanajuato, three people died, and another was injured after bullets rained down on their house in the community of Santa Rita de Casia on Sunday afternoon.
According to local reports, neighbors heard several gunshots before they saw several men fleeing the scene. Police confirmed that two men and a woman died from the shooting incident.
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Recent Killings in Mexico's Guanajuato State Plagued By Turf Wars Between Mexican Drug Cartels
The number of violent crimes in the cartel-plagued Guanajuato state continues to rise as Mexican drug cartels fight over territory.
On Friday afternoon, a dead man's body was found inside a plastic drum in Lago de la Esperanza street in the Lagos neighborhood in Celaya.
The man's body reportedly bore signs of physical abuse. Aside from the man's body, authorities said they also found black plastic bags inside the blue plastic drum surrounded by trash. However, they did not reveal what was inside them.
On Thursday night, a man was found dead in Privada Soledad street at San Miguel Octopan town in Celaya. Authorities identified the man as Oscar Daniel, alias "El Cabe." Police found the 36-year-old man lying on the road with gunshot wounds to his head.
Witnesses told investigators that the man was walking on the street when the suspects approached him and shot him several times.
On Thursday morning, four bags with human remains were found outside a grocery store in Opalo Street at Tinaja de Bernales community in Irapuato. A green cardboard was placed on one of the bags, with a message from an alleged drug gang.
A dead man with a plastic bag covering his head down to his waist was found under a bridge in the La Cruz community in Celaya at around midnight Wednesday.
The hands of the victim, who was wearing black denim jeans, were also tied behind his back. Authorities said the man had gunshot wounds. A cardboard with a message was also left on top of the body.
In Resurrección town, also in Celaya, two men, who were in their 60s, were shot in front of a church on Thursday afternoon. One of the men died in the hospital due to gunshot wounds to the abdomen and chest. The second man was reportedly in stable condition after he was shot in the left arm.
On Wednesday afternoon, two men in Celaya's Arboleda de San Rafael neighborhood died instantly after armed men broke into their house and repeatedly shot them. After firing 10 bullets, reports said the hitmen immediately boarded a vehicle and fled the scene.
Two weeks ago, at least 21 people were reported dead in Guanajuato in just 24 hours. The victims, consisting of men, women, and children, were found dead in several municipalities on January 17, with their bodies riddled with bullets.
A week before this, at least seven people were killed in two attacks in the state. Two men and two women were reportedly killed on the morning of January 9 after armed men entered a property near Acámbaro. In the evening, two men and a woman were murdered inside a house in the center of Irapuato.
According to Periódico AM/Al Dia, Celaya has the most number of homicides in the state of Guanajuato in January this year. Celaya had 49 homicides, Leon had 42, while Irapuato followed with 40.
Pending data for December 2021, Guanajuato is reportedly destined to be named the state with the most homicides for the fourth consecutive year.
From January through November last year, Guanajuato recorded 3,239 homicides. Baja California followed with 2,800 homicides.
Guanajuato's population is only five percent of Mexico's population. However, it reportedly accounted for about 13 percent of the country's murders in 2020.
Mexican Drug Cartels' Battle for Power And Territory
The Jalisco cartel has been fighting to take over territory in Guanajuato from local drug gangs. According to Border Report, the state is the scene of a bloody turf war between the Jalisco cartel and the home-grown Santa Rosa de Lima gang.
The bloodbath in the state reportedly started in 2018 when the Jalisco New Generation Cartel or Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) moved into Guanajuato. The Jalisco cartel is infamous for its public displays of violence and military power.
According to the U.S. State Department, the Jalisco cartel is considered "to be the most violent drug trafficking organization currently operating in Mexico, with the highest cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine trafficking capacity."
Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera is currently leading the Jalisco cartel. As he continued to evade capture, the U.S. government offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Joshua Summers
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