Jalisco Violence Escalates: Killings Suggest an Adjustment in the Criminal Underworld

Something serious is happening in Jalisco, analysts say. The killings suggest an adjustment in the criminal underworld.

Edgar Guerra: "Today, after 15 years of war, many of these conflicts are about revenge. I believe that retaliation and the idea of ​​revenge is very strong behind this violence."

Recent acts of extreme violence in Jalisco show that despite slight decreases in the number of intentional homicides, insecurity remains uncontrollable. Experts consulted indicate that the type of violence that affects the entity accounts for a worsening of the attacks committed by criminal organizations.

The massacres in Tlaquepaque and Ojuelos, the kidnapping after a shooting in Zapopan and the findings of human remains , also in the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara, show that the violence in Jalisco continues irrepressible, despite the apparent decline in the numbers of intentional homicides.

“Jalisco is an entity that has started 2021 with frankly alarming violence. There are several events that lead us to think that, in effect, something is happening in the criminal dynamics, "said Edgar Guerra Blanco, research professor at the Drug Policy Program at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE).

At least 48 acts of extreme violence have been registered so far this year. The civil organization Causa Común pointed out in its report “Galería del Horror” that in the month of January alone, 45 high-impact events were observed and documented, including four multiple homicides and eight different findings of human remains in plastic bags. 

Add the events that occurred in February such as the massacre in Tlaquepaque, which left at least five people dead; as well as the discovery of the 18 bags with human remains and the shooting at the Los Otates restaurant, both events in the municipality of Zapopan. - Both incidnts covered here on BB-

Jalisco closed 2020 with a total of 2,621 victims of intentional homicide, just 1.65 percent less than in 2019, the most violent year of that entity in the last five years.

Experts on the issue of security and violence consulted by SinEmbargo explained that the upsurge in Jalisco, more than quantitative, is qualitative, that is, they are becoming more bloodthirsty.

"While it is true that some indicators could tell us that it is going down a bit, the truth is that Jalisco is one of the most violent states in our country," explained Edgar Guerra, from CIDE.

David Coronado, head of the Violence Laboratory of the Department of Sociology at the University of Guadalajara, agreed that violence has evolved.

In Jalisco, he exemplified, not only are people murdered, but now they are deprived of their freedom and in some cases the perpetrators dump the bodies of their victims in unpopulated areas, rivers or near their homes, but in many others cases are buried clandestinely or otherwise disappeared, which is another form of even more cruel violence.

"Violence is increasing, it is like an ink stain that spreads on a sheet," said the academic from Guadalajara.

The dimension of these forms of violence is not yet reflected in the crime incidence data, since in the matter of disappearances the black figure is high. In addition, the bodies found in clandestine graves were not counted in the statistics of intentional homicides reported by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP).

Jalisco is the federal entity with the highest number of reports of missing persons between the period from December 2018 to December 2020, with a total of 3,724 reports, which represent 22.62 percent of the national total.

David Coronado, head of the Violence Laboratory of the Department of Sociology at the University of Guadalajara, agreed that violence has evolved.

After Jalisco, the states with the highest number of reports of missing persons (between December 2018 to December 2020) are: Tamaulipas, 1,287 (7.82 percent); Guanajuato, with a thousand 252 (7.60 percent); Mexico City, with 1,228 (7.46 percent) and Sonora, with 1,227 (7.45 percent).

In Mexico, at least 559 clandestine graves were located during 2020, of which 1,186 bodies were exhumed, according to information released by the National Search Commission (CNB).

Jalisco is also the federal entity with the highest number of bodies found in clandestine graves with a total of 433 bodies, that is, 42.96 percent. Other states with the greatest location of remains are: Guanajuato with 204 (20.23 percent); Colima with 89 (8.83 percent); Michoacán with 73 (7.24 percent) and Zacatecas with 60 (5.95 percent).

After Jalisco, the states with the highest number of reports of missing persons (between December 2018 to December 2020) are: Tamaulipas, 1,287 (7.82 percent); Guanajuato, with a thousand 252 (7.60 percent); Mexico City, with 1,228 (7.46 percent) and Sonora, with 1,227 (7.45 percent).

The violence in Jalisco has been attributed to the fight between the CJNG -Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel- and the Sinaloa Cartel over control of routes, drug trafficking and the illicit market, just as our BB Contributor Itzli reported in his Post on the violence in Zacatecas on Feb 23.

However, Edgar Guerra considered that one of the reasons that give rise to the qualitative rise in violence is because the war between antagonistic groups operates under a logic of revenge.

“This violence started as a conflict over the routes, but the truth is that today it is no longer necessarily a conflict over the routes; Today, after 15 years of war, many of these conflicts are about revenge. I believe that retaliation and the idea of ​​revenge is very strong behind this violence. I think that more than by routes, it is a war to annihilate each other because they have already hurt each other a lot; For a long time they have hurt each other and today they bring so many grievances between them that what they are looking for is no longer the control of the routes and if it is not the extermination ”, said the specialist.

The analysts consulted also explained that this alarming aggravation of violence is generated by the normalization of it and because there is necessarily complicity of the State with organized crime gangs that operate almost with total impunity.

"We cannot dissociate these types of attacks without thinking that there are certain complicities behind and without thinking that these armed groups have links with the police," Guerra explained.

Finally, the expert stressed that to fight organized crime in Jalisco, it is necessary to dismantle it by fighting money laundering, that is, hitting its finances.

Check out the Full Causa Común Atrocity Report 2020 Here  On the report there is an actual DAY by DAY tally of atrocities. This is all in Spanish, the US Common Cause website does not contain this material. Tons of graphics, charts etc NOT graphic photos.

Source: SinEmbargo