Mexico: Crime-related violence in Jalisco leaves nine dead

Event

On Saturday, July 8, nine crime-related deaths were reported in different municipalities throughout the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco. Three bodies were found hanging from a bridge and three more bodies were found wrapped in garbage bags, all of which had signs attached warning against theft. The messages were reportedly signed by the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG). Two other individuals were fatally shot by assailants, while another was shot dead after trying to escape from police.

Elsewhere in the state, 27 cars were reportedly stolen by a group of ten to 15 men in the Tlajomulco municipality of Jalisco on Friday, July 7. As of July 8, two of the vehicles had been recovered.

Context

Messages threatening to punish thieves are common in areas of Mexico controlled by drug cartels, where the organizations strive to maintain the appearance of enforcing local order. 

The CJNG was created in 2010 as a faction that split off from the Sinaloa cartel, and has now spread to 12 Mexican states. It is known to be involved in trafficking to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Criminal activity by the CJNG has increased following the relative decline of the Sinaloa cartel amid internal conflict. This change in power dynamics has contributed to the rising levels of violence in the state of Jalisco. 

Violence in parts of Mexico is spiraling out of control as cartels adopt increasingly militarized tactics, and fierce turf wars between competing and increasingly fragmented cartels are on the rise. The deterioration of security conditions in Mexico sheds light on the failure of the state's security policies. The government's war on drugs has spanned a decade and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Between 2006 and 2012, around 120,000 people were killed in cartel-related violence across Mexico, excluding disappearances.

Advice

Individuals are advised to remain vigilant at all times due to high crime rates and the risk of incidental violence.

Due to extreme levels of violence linked to the presence of various armed groups, many Western governments advise against travel to a large portion of Mexican territory, including Guerrero, Colima, Sinaloa, Michoacán, and Tamaulipas states and the northeastern border with the United States, as well as to a lesser extent Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit, Nuevo León, and Sonora states.