Recognized in 2008 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, SMA is now considered the third most violent municipality in the state of Guanajuato.
According to testimonies of local businessmen under condition of anonymity- after the combat against huachicoleo (fuel theft) in the town of Santa Rosa de Lima, they assure that the members of that criminal group began to diversify their illegal activities, and found a “niche” in San Miguel de Allende, where high-impact violent events such as intentional homicide, armed robbery and extortion, are more and more common.
“We never imagined executions in the commercial zone of San Miguel, It is sad, because we are impotent, neither the municipal nor the state government want to accept the fact that the situation is critical”, declared Mr. Oropeza, a businessman whose son was murdered last February in SMA.
Figures from the Public Security Secretariat of Guanajuato (SSP) place San Miguel de Allende as the third most insecure municipality in the state, only behind Celaya and Guanajuato.
The most reported crimes are extortion and intentional homicide. “This affects us in a brutal way, we do not even want to imagine what will happen the day that something happens to a tourist,” said Alicia, an entrepreneur from the area who revealed that some of the local artisans have reported extortions.
“We have been told that tenants are being charged between 5 thousand and 10 thousand pesos a month, per business, which is totally unacceptable,” the interviewee said to Mexico City based newspaper EL UNIVERSAL.
On the other hand, a report by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) reveals that Ramiro “N”, a.k.a “El Perro“, presumed lieutenant of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Drug Cartel (CJNG), is the main generator of violence in San Miguel de Allende, and that this criminal is fighting over the control of the city against “El Marro“, leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Huachicolero Cartel, that has diversified its criminal activities, and is now dabbling into drug dealing, extortion and kidnapping.
The report details that “El Perro” was arrested on November 2018, in Santa Rosa for the crimes of drug trafficking and organized crime; however, in February of this year he was released and now he changed his residence to the municipality of San Miguel, where he is in charge of recruiting and supplying young people with drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and crystal, so they can become “distributors” in the area.
San Miguel Times Newsroom with information from El Universal
