Four were killed after an armed group attacked civilians at a packed soccer field yesterday evening in Cárdenas, Guanajuato. The event is similar to another attack which left eight dead last month in San José de Mendoza, a town just eight kilometers away.
Gunmen arrived just before 5:00 PM on 14 April, and without saying a word, opened fire on civilians and their families, killing four and injured another two.
According to witnesses, security forces did not arrive for 20 minutes after receiving the alert.
Similarity to an earlier attack at a soccer field in San José de Mendoza, Guanajuato
This event is similar in several ways to an earlier attack that occured on March 16, 2025. In this attack, an armed group showed up at a soccer field and opened fire on those playing and watching. The final toll from this event was eight dead and five more injured. The victims were all young men, members of Pastoral Juvenil de Irapuato, a local church youth group, unrelated to organized crime.
This attack occured in San José de Mendoza, Guanajuato, just eight kilomenters away from the most recent shooting.
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| Photos of the funeral for the murdered men. |
This attack was a random shooting related to conflict between two organized crime groups, according to Ganajuato-based source consulted by Borderland Beat. This attack was a random act of violence intended to attract law enforcement attention to territory controlled by a rival criminal group, increasing government pressure on them - a tactic called "calentando la plaza" (heating up the plaza).
Guanajuato is the most violent state in Mexico by a wide margin based on a variety of measures, from police killings, to homicides, to massacres. Unfortunately, events like these are quite common in the state. With 77 massacres (attacks with three or more deaths) in 2024, Guanajuato state leads the nation by a wide margin.
The conflict is between two criminal organizations, the Cártel Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL), and the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), who have contested control of Guanajuato's criminal economies of fuel theft, drug dealing, and prostitution since the mid-2010s. Events like these are typically related to this fight. Businesses and locations which are assumed to be affiliated with a rival organized crime group - such as bars or tire repair shops (vulcanizadoras) can be targeted with violence.
March 16 Attack - @LuisCardenasMx
Concealed carry should be a right in Mexico, how else will neighbors defend themselves and each other? Aint no way I'm living in Mexico without a piece on me.
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