Gunmen Massacre Seven Including Child at Spa In Cortazar, Guanajuato

By David Saucedo for Borderland Beat

Seven people including one child were killed by gunmen at a public pool in Cortazar, Guanajuato yesterday afternoon. The following analysis of the event is by security expert David Saucedo.

Note: There are graphic photos of the massacre below.

The municipality of Cortazar has been under the control of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL) for at least 9 years. Although political alternation has occurred in the municipality during this period (it has been governed by the PRI, PRD, and PAN), the criminal dominion of the Marro heirs has not been interrupted in the area, and their cells have reached successive agreements and understandings with changing local authorities.

Although Cortazar is part of the territories under the control of the CSRL, their enemies from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel launch periodic attacks against them, trying to establish a beachhead either in the municipal center or in some of its rural communities. They have not succeeded so far.

In fact, the municipalities of Juventino Rosas, Villagrán, Cortazar, and Tarimoro, all under the dominion of the CSRL, form a protective ring that envelops the municipality of Celaya. This defensive wall has prevented the CJNG from conquering the city of Celaya despite the operations it has launched, even using several of its elite groups.

With a population of less than 100,000 inhabitants, Cortazar is not important for the volume of retail drug consumption. The criminal portfolio of the CSRL includes other activities such as extortion, kidnapping, theft of cargo transport, theft of high-end vehicles, and theft from PEMEX pipelines. But the factor that makes Cortazar a strategic municipality for cartels is being one of the two gateways to the municipality of Celaya. The other entrance is in the Los Apaseos area.

Being one of its main plazas, it is unlikely that the CSRL is the author of the massacre at "La Palma" resort. At the time of writing these lines, the official report records the death of 7 people, including a minor. Therefore, the main suspicions fall on the cells of the CJNG. It is possible that the Jalisco leaders ordered this multiple homicide in order to "heat up the plaza" and force state and federal public security forces to occupy the area, making it difficult for the CSRL to carry out their activities. It is also possible that CJNG commandos detected the presence of CSRL members at the resort and decided to go after them, killing innocent people without any criminal ties in the process.

Earlier this year, two municipal police officers in Cortazar were killed. Shortly after, some members of the corporation deserted. This suggests that the enemies of the CSRL tried to erode (apparently successfully) the police protection ring that the "Marros" have.

According to the state and federal intervention scheme, after high-impact events like today's, the "trueno" operation will be applied in the coming days to audit the operation of the municipal police in Cortazar. As it is a predictable move, it is very difficult to find significant findings. Although if the Jalisco group planned this massacre, it will pay off for them because it will immobilize their adversaries in the area for several weeks, or at least enough time to plan and deliver their next blow.

David Saucedo is a crime analyst and one of Mexico's leading security experts. You can follow him on Twitter @David_Saucedo_ and on Facebook @davidsaucedocdmx.