Mexican state of Guanajuato breaks record in police killings

For the third consecutive year, Guanajuato tops the list of states with the most deceased officers, with 83 uniformed agents who lost their lives in the line of duty between January and December.

GUANAJUATO, GTO.- With 83 officers killed from January to December, Guanajuato reached the highest number of police officers killed in its entire history and, for the third consecutive year, and retains the first national place in homicides of police officers.

Every four days the death of a security agent was recorded, on average, in ambushes, confrontations, direct attacks, when answering calls for help forged by criminal groups or stalked at the end of their shifts.

The State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) and the State Public Security Secretariat have attributed the escalation of violence to the struggle for the organized crime control of the region, especially the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

The Secretary of Citizen Security of Irapuato, Pedro Alberto Cortés Zavala, considered that there are various causes for which police officers are deprived of life, such as reprisals from criminals whose interests are affected by the arrests and the work they perform.

“There can be several factors why the organized crime members kill the police officers: because of the work they have to do to confront organized crime,” Cortés Zavala concluded.