Mexico: Wave of violence continues in Baja California Sur /update 1

Event

A group of gunmen assassinated the president of the State Commission on Human Rights for Baja California Sur on Monday, November 20, in the state capital La Paz. The president’s son was also killed in the attack and his wife and daughter were injured. The shooting, which occurred around 19:00 (local time), targeted the man while he was driving.

This incident is the latest in a long line of murders and other violence to hit Baja California Sur in recent months. In the week leading up to the November 20 shooting, a total of at least 35 people were killed across the state. The majority of the deaths occurred in La Paz and the Los Cabos area (made up of the resort towns of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo).

Context

The violence has been attributed to fierce turf wars between competing and increasingly fragmented cartels. This trend has been observed in much of the country since last year’s arrest of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán, with cartels adopting increasingly militarized tactics such as weaponized drones.

More than 1000 soldiers and 200 security agents - along with more than USD 50 million in investments for intensified security measures - have been deployed to the Los Cabos area since April 2017, but the increased security presence does not seem to be having a marked impact on violence rates. While attacks typically target rival gangs and government figures, bystanders are sometimes caught up in the crossfire, including in Los Cabos.

This violence is poised to continue as long as the structural causes of insecurity - such as institutional weakness, corrupt and deficient security forces, poor public services, and a political establishment susceptible to bribes - are not effectively addressed.

Advice

Individuals are advised to remain vigilant when in Baja California Sur.

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