Celaya Guanajuato: Ford Dealership Attacked with Gunfire Closes

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Excelsior y PeriodoCorreo

An armed group fired high-powered weapons at a Ford car dealership in the city of Celaya, Guanajuato. Although there were no injuries reported, the damages are substantial and above all, they increased the climate of terror suffered by the capital of Guanajuato. The US automobile agency, Ford Montes, is located on Adolfo López Mateos Boulevard.

Supposedly around one o'clock am, armed men arrived in three vans, descended from the units and opened fire with their weapons. Despite the fact that the company's management called 911, Celaya municipal police showed up until 8:30 am, that is, almost eight hours later.

                                                Several Vehicles were damaged as well

It should be remembered that this past week, the State Attorney General dismantled a band of extortionists, among the members of the criminal group are two municipal police.

So far the amount of material losses is unknown; However, Ford Montes is the third car business that has been shot up with high powered gunfire in the last two weeks. A similar attack was also registered against a building materials business.

After an armed group shot at the Ford Montes automotive agency , this dealership has closed its doors, leaving about 85 people unemployed and with a lack of income for their families.

The employees of the dealership realized that for a few months, the businessmen were intimidated to pay the "piso" fee, since the amounts that demanded as extortion were high; however, they had refused to pay the fee.

It was the early hours of Thursday, September 19, when a command shot the facade of the Ford Montes automotive agency, located on Adolfo López Mateos Boulevard , on the corner of Palmas Street , damaging several vehicles and leaving millions of dollars to businessmen.

Since that day and to date there are no cars in the place, there is no commercial movement and employees report that they were unemployed because of the insecurity that prevails in the municipality.

So far there has been no official pronouncement of the Ford Montes dealership, but unofficially it is known about the closure of the business.

The commerce in Guanajuato has been affected again by the crime, this because one of the main car agencies in the region, located in Celaya, decided to terminate its operations after a few days ago its facilities were attacked with bullets by a group of armed men; it should be remembered that about a month ago the local tortilleries decided to close because of the constant extortion.

On this occasion, the Ford Montes agency decided to withdraw from the town one week after the aggression against the building that houses its operations, located on Adolfo López Mateos Boulevard, in the Villa de los Reyes neighborhood.

This attack occurred during the early hours of September 19, when armed men arrived at the scene and opened fire on the premises, causing damage to the windows of the facade and some vehicles that were on display. Experts and local security forces cordoned off the scene to perform the corresponding inquiries.

Harmful situation

It should be noted that in Celaya a large number of businesses have been affected by extortion, from those where large revenues are generated, to recognized establishments, some very small or even traditional Celaya places.

This is not the first time that businesses in Celaya, or Guanajuato in general, have had to close their doors because of the aggressions of those who are victims of organized crime, since last August, dozens of tortilleries of Celaya decided to lower the curtains after being extorted.

The criminal gangs dedicated to extortion have become so blatant in the municipality of Celaya that when the owners of tortillerías complained about the problem in front of the City Hall, armed men immediately attacked one of their premises and killed three employees.

Although gangs charge for "protection" in other parts of Mexico, they do not usually retaliate for a public protest in such a quick and lethal way, and industry representatives say tortilleries have already begun to close in the city, whose population is around the 500,000 inhabitants.

The conflict became public on Monday when the owners of the tortilleria held a protest in front of the city hall and said that the gangs demanded amounts "impossible to pay." Hours later, unidentified assailants killed the three employees of the tortilleria.

The president of the Businessmen's Circle , Jorge Rincón Maldonado , said that the exact number of how many businesses have been closed for being victims of extortion is unknown, but it is a reality that exists and that not all merchants are encouraged to report.

Even the president of the Business Coordinating Council (CCE), Jesús Ramos, revived before Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo , that many businesses have had to close and there are people who have had to leave Celaya.

“There are businesses that are in crisis, they are closing their doors, leaving unemployed. After so much effort to create jobs, these entrepreneurs, these people who live in their homes, who are restless ... it is not fair that they have to leave the city, it is not fair for people to leave their business, not for lack of planning, strategy or bad decision, but that it is for something foreign, ”said Jesús Torres Ramos on September 11.

Last Monday, September 16, the attorney general, Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre , announced the dismantling of a gang of extortionists and said they already add a dozen detainees, however the announcement did not return peace to most merchants, vendors and businessmen , because some shops and stores are still closed.

First Warning?

But the agency had already had an unfortunate encounter with crime when Jorge Montes, who at that time was a councilor and president of the Municipal Committee of the PRI, as well as one of the owners of the Ford Montes, was murdered on January 24, 2018. The alderman was killed by four men who shot Monte González more than 20 times.

Request security report:

The local deputy of Morena , Magdalena Rosales Cruz , presented 

a point of agreement with which she seeks to exhort Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo and the mayor of Celaya, Elvira Paniagua , to deliver to the local Congress a report of the actions they are taking to strengthen the state and municipal police, respectively.

In tribune, she said that the state of Guanajuato is one of the states with the greatest police deficit, since almost half of the state and municipal elements are missing.

Likewise, she pointed out that in Celaya the crime of extortion is going up, a situation “that has the population in despair”, this without seeing clear actions on the part of the authorities, and that in the middle of this crisis, the president municipal repeatedly denied this situation.

"Celaya is today one of the most violent cities in the world and we cannot forget that in the middle of one of the strongest extortion crises the city has experienced, the mayor repeatedly denied the situation," she said.

She pointed out that before this, in Celaya there are no elements of Public Security to protect people to prevent violence, “the Celayan society lives in a constant state of fear and despair, and although sensationalist statements are given by the state authorities that stopped the main operational leader, the feeling of the people is the same ”.

And in the face of this, she said that the state executive remains in the need to have Álvar Cabeza de Vaca in charge of the Ministry of Public Security , who has not given the expected results.

Finally she assured that the federal government is working to support the entity by sending 2,000 elements of the National Guard and of these 400 are in Celaya. The proposal was submitted to the Public Security and Communications Commission