Bloody Weekend in Guanajuato; Death Toll at least 22

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Debate y Infobae

     Guanajuato: At least 22 people were executed on Saturday in different events in the state.

From the first hours of Saturday and until the night was over the state of Guanajuato was the epicenter of a day marked by violence and firearms.

Apaseo el Alto was the municipality where there were more violent deaths (9). Around 11am several vans with armed individuals on board entered through the free highway Querétato-Celaya to the community of San Antonio Calichar and fired indiscriminately against the inhabitants.

The reasons why the armed group attacked that place are unknown , nevertheless, neighbors that witnessed the facts related that the convoy fled after the aggression and later went to the town of San Bartolo and carried out another shooting that took the lives of 3 people more: a man and his son just five years old, as well as a 14 year old teenager.

At 10 o'clock pm, reprisal to the event that took place in Apaseo el Alto, an armed commando sent several people into the Colonia April 24, leaving one dead and two injured, including a child under 5 years of age.

One of the victims was in a church, where he was going to be the godfather of a wedding, which was taking place in the religious compound.

The godfather of a wedding was executed inside a Catholic church just before starting the mass in the community of San Miguel de Emenguaro, in the Municipality of Salvatierra.  Armed individuals entered the church and approached the victim, opened fire and subsequently fled the scene.

The godfather of a wedding in San Miguel Eménguaro, was shot dead in the atrium of the temple shortly before beginning the religious ceremony; in spite of the murder, the fiancés continued with the marriage.

Around 1:00 pm, a 911 call reported firearms  in the atrium of San Miguel Eménguaro , where municipal police officers were deployed, who confirmed the report. A man was lying there injured by firearm. Elements of the Mexican Red Cross arrived but upon checking the vital signs of the person determined that he had already lost his life.

The area was cordoned off and guarded by police elements of different corporations, including state forces and the Mexican army.

Godfather's body was thrown out into the atrium of the Church's facilities and the couple continued with their wedding as authorities arrived on the scene to proceed with the investigation, along with the Red Cross and SEMEFO.

Later, members of the Public Prosecutor's Office and criminal investigation agents came to the scene, collecting evidence, and later, with the help of SEMEFO, they took the body and transported it to the city of Celaya to perform a necropsy on the law.

The man who died was originally from the community of La Moncada, belonging to Tarimoro, and it was later learned that it was apparently a confusion of identities.

Irapuato was the second bloodiest municipality. In five different events, five people were executed . The first murder occurred in the Las Americas neighborhood during the early hours of the morning. The victim: a 21 year old young man.

A few hours apart there were two events that occurred before noon. The first in the Villas de San Cayetano neighborhood and the second in the town of Lo de Juárez. In both cases two people were killed by firearm.

Also in Irapuato, one man lost his life and another was injured in an armed attack; the individuals were traveling in a vehicle in Colonia El Ranchito. In this same demarcation, a man died after being attacked with bullets inside a stationery shop in Colonia 12 de Diciembre.

In Celaya, a man's body was found in the park near Colonia Progreso around 8:30 am, local media reported.

In the Rancho Seco neighborhood of this same municipality, armed individuals broke into a mechanical workshop and killed a man identified as Jorge. The victim's body was lying under a car, where he tried to hide.

In the backyard of a house in Ejido La Joya, in León, a man was found murdered this morning. The victim, identified as Juan Diego "N", was kneeling with his face to the ground with at least five bullet wounds, mainly in the skull.

In Pénjamo, two armed individuals entered a house in Colonia Del Sol and shot dead a man identified as Ignacio Hernández. In the house were members of the victim's family, who were unharmed.

In Abasolo, two men were executed in a Los Pinos alley of Colonia Vicente Guerrero. After the attack, around 7:00 pm, those responsible fled between the streets and alleys of the area. Ten spent bullet casings were found at the scene.

In the municipality of Salvatierra 3 people were executed in the La Esperanza neighborhood, only a few meters from a church. In the community of Santa Teresa , in Guanajuato, the bodies of two teenagers who were stabbed to death were found. In Abasolo, Valle de Santiago and Salamanca three other people were executed.

In two of the cases the bodies were found in depopulated areas and the third was a merchant murdered by motorcycle hitmen outside a popular market.

While all this violence occurred in the state, former President Vicente Fox Quesada demanded guards for his protection - paid with public resources - from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

" This morning an armed commando tried to enter my house, it is a serious situation that requires immediate attention, " Fox tweeted.

According to a report in the newspaper Reforma , which cites private security personnel that safeguards the former president's property, on Saturday two armed people arrived and claimed that they were escorts of a couple, who would marry in The Fox Center. Security personnel told them that there would be no wedding at the ranch, and the armed people withdrew.

Guanajuato was the third entity in Mexico with the most crimes committed , according to the latest figures from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP) for the month of last October 2018. This state comes in third behind Mexico City and the State of Mexico.

Specifically, in the crime of homicide, the state ranks seventh nationally in 376 cases only in the month of last October 2018.