Police in Celaya, Mexico, refuse to give up or negotiate with cartels

As Mexico’s June 2 presidential election approaches, the city of Celaya, arguably the most dangerous place per capita to be a cop in North America, is at the crossroads of a national debate about security policy.

CELAYA, Mexico — A dead man lay on his back in the parking lot of a convenience store in late February when journalists rolled in to the north-central Mexico city of Celaya to interview police. A spray of bullet casings and spent projectiles lay around the corpse, a sight all too common in Guanajuato state, which has Mexico’s highest number of homicides.

A policeman had been driving his wife to work on Feb. 28 when cartel gunmen — who had apparently followed from them home — opened fire on their car. The policeman killed one attacker before dying.

His wife and 1-year-old daughter were unharmed. But a week earlier, cartel gunmen shot a police officer to death while she took her 8-year-old daughter to school. They killed the girl, too.

Welcome to Celaya, arguably the most dangerous place, per capita, to be a cop in North America. At least 34 police officers have been killed in this city of 500,000 people in the last three years. In Guanajuato state, its population just over 6 million, more police were shot to death in 2023 — about 60 — than in all of the United States.

As Mexico’s June 2 presidential election approaches, this city lies at the crossroads of a national debate about security policy.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/police-celaya-mexico-refuse-give-negotiate-cartels-rcna142331

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