Members of the organization Comparmex, the “business center of Northern Sonora,” met with public officials on August 13 in Guaymas to demand action to address the extreme violence that has gripped the state.

In addition to Comparmex members, the meeting was attended by Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich, state and federal security officials and the municipal presidents of Cajeme, Guaymas, Empalme and Navojoa

According to its website, Comparmex is a politically independent group of employers and entrepreneurs founded in 1929. It seeks to establish social conditions that contribute to the prosperity of all Mexicans, to increase equity and social cohesion.

Sonora newspaper El Imparcial reported that Comparmex President Arturo Fernández Díaz recommended that state and federal governments devote more resources to security forces, to include better training, equipment and salaries.

Anti-government and -police violence

Of particular concern is the level of violence against municipal governments, in particular municipal police officers. Their increasing frequency and levels of violence may indicate signs of social instability in the state of Sonora, Mexico.

On June 20, the comptroller of the city of Guaymas, Daniel Morales Pardini, was gunned down with another municipal employee, Enrique Galarza Núñez, as they were driving on Avenida Serdán, the main street in Guaymas. Both men were killed. Pardini had previously been the municipal police director for Guaymas.

On June 28, the eastern command police headquarters in Guaymas was assaulted by an armed gunman. There were three violent murders in Guaymas earlier in the day, and the presidenta municipal (mayor) of Guaymas, Sara Valle Dessens, announced on the radio that because of the violence, people in Guaymas should not leave their homes if they do not need to.

And in July, after seeing his partner slain in front of an Oxxo convenience store, a Guaymas police officer is quoted as saying “They are going to kill us all.”

An August 4 attack on the palacio municipal (city hall) of the municipality of Mazatan, Sonora. Gunment riddled the building with a fusillade of bullets.

The next day, August 5, an Hermosillo police officer was shot to death in his home. He was the 15th police official killed in Sonora in 2019.

Violence within proximity of children

And unfortunately, children have not been spared from seeing examples of violence in the state.

On July 29, a dismembered body was left outside a primary school in Empalme, just 500 meters from the police station.

On August 3, two men were gunned down outside of an Hermosillo McDonald’s where children were celebrating at a birthday piñata party.

And on the evening of August 4, a man entered the Ballpark restaurant, withdrew a weapon and shot a man who was dining at the restaurant, killing him. At a nearby table, several children dove under their table in terror as the man was murdered.

One week later, the manager of the Ballpark restaurant was kidnapped. He was later released.

Conclusion

By August 24, Hermosillo had experienced 160 violent homicides in 2019, just 15 fewer than all of 2018.

Earlier this year the Mexican federal government announced the deployment of federal national guard troops to establish “security priority areas” in Sonora. It is not clear what specific actions have been taken at the state level to curtail the violence in Sonora, but it has continued. We are especially concerned about growing tensions between armed groups and local governments, in particular against local police officials.

We recommend that you exercise extreme caution when traveling to or driving through the cities of Guaymas – San Carlos, Empalme, Ciudad Obregon and Hermosillo. Nighttime travel is definitely not recommended.