Acapulco, the largest and best-known city in Guerrero, has been on the list of the 50 most violent cities in the world in the last two years according to the report compiled by the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice. In 2022 the city was ranked 10th, and in 2023 it was ranked 15th.
Various crime gangs such as Los Ardillos, Los Tlacos, Guerreros Unidos, La Familia Michoacana, the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, and the Sierra Cartel are fighting among themselves in turf wars and for the control of drug trafficking routes in the region.
In Guerrero, poppies are grown from which opium and finally heroin are produced. The use of this substance, along with fentanyl and occasionally cocaine, has resulted in a powerful drug known as China White.
According to figures from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System, in 2023, 1,398 first-degree homicides were recorded in Guerrero. Of these, 1,026 were carried out with firearms.
However, according to a security expert, the official figures could be lower than the real ones.
In a statement to ACI Prensa, José Antonio Ortega Sánchez, president of the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, pointed out that “it is very likely that the figures on the incidence of homicides in Mexico are higher.” He contends “there is an operation that can’t be concealed to hide the real figures.”
Ortega also referred to the role of the Catholic Church in addressing violence in Guerrero.
The security expert described Guerrero as “a failed state” where criminal organizations “exercise dominant control.” In addition, he said that the “inaction” of the authorities along with “impunity” are the factors that contribute to violence in the region.
“Given the defenselessness of the people of Guerrero and the power of the criminal organizations, the bishops of the Guerrero region decided to intervene directly, seeking to reach an understanding with the crime leaders to stop the clashes and protect the population,” he said.
The president of the Citizens Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice noted that the business of crime gangs “is not limited only to drug trafficking” but also covers a wide range of criminal activities, “such as collecting protection money, robberies, kidnappings, and extortion.” This situation, he said, “has led the Church to intervene in search of peaceful solutions.”
Ortega stressed that the only thing the Church is asking for is “peace, tranquility, and security for the population, which is the first obligation of the government toward its citizens.”
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Not meeting to make a deal
The bishop emeritus of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, Salvador Rangel, who has held similar meetings with members of organized crime, said that the recent meeting of the prelates of Guerrero state was “not an agreement, it was simply talking, dialoguing.”
In a Feb. 16 interview with ACI Prensa, Rangel lamented that “the ones who have won the battle here are the drug traffickers.”
However, he encouraged people not to lose hope and, whatever may happen, to work so that everything turns out for the good of the people: “We mustn’t lose faith and hope,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Diego López Colín is a graduate of the Carlos Septién García School of Journalism (Mexico). He has been a correspondent for ACI Prensa in Mexico since 2023.