Terror struck Loma de Flores’ community on Sunday evening, when gunmen invaded an amateur soccer game and started shooting indiscriminately at both players and fans. With the massacre claiming 11 lives and a dozen more still fighting for their lives, local authorities say it is among the deadliest in the area’s recent history.
The "Indiscriminate" Assault
The attack happened around 5:20 p.m. local time right as families and fans were getting together to talk, after a match had concluded. Eyewitness reports said there were some armed men in two pickup trucks who ambled onto the ground and started shooting high-caliber weapons into the crowd.
- Casualties: 10 victims have been reported as dead immediately on the scene, and an 11th died from injuries on arriving en route to local hospitals.
- Innocents Found in Crossfire: Salamanca Mayor César Prieto said at least one woman and one minor were among the 12 wounded.
- The Crime Scene: Investigators allegedly removed more than 100 spent shell casings found on the pitch from the “Cabañas,” highlighting the ferocity of the attack.
The CJNG–CSRL Conflict
No group has been named officially responsible, but security analysts attribute the bloodshed to Salamanca's strategic location. As a major Pemex refinery, the city is a "crown jewel" in huachicol (fuel theft) for criminal syndicates.
Guanajuato has become the main battleground for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the local Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL). That “three-cornered struggle,” typically involving the Sinaloa Cartel, is about control of:
- Fuel Theft: Using state-operated pipelines.
- Drug Trafficking: Finding routes for fentanyl and methamphetamines.
- Extortion: Overcharging local businesses and municipal projects.
A State Under Siege
The shooting adds even more grim count to Guanajuato, which is consistently ranked as the deadliest state in Mexico. Just 24 hours before this soccer field massacre, five other men were killed and one person abducted in separate incidents in Salamanca.
Mayor Prieto characterized the incident as a “cowardly” act, and a sign of a “severe social breakdown.” He begged President Claudia Sheinbaum for federal reinforcements to prevent criminal organizations from “subjugating the authorities.”
Federal Response and Investigation
The Guanajuato state prosecutor's office began a high-priority investigation. The city has put checkpoints across its exits by federal security forces, including the National Guard and the Mexican Army.
The massacre has complicated the federal government’s narrative of a declining national murder rate. Although President Sheinbaum just said that homicides in 2023 were at the lowest in a decade, the “hot spots” such as Salamanca show that the war for territorial dominance is as deadly as ever.
