Seven young men, including minors, were killed in a shooting early Monday morning, May 19, in San Bartolo de Berrios, a village within the municipality of San Felipe, Guanajuato, Mexico, reinforcing the state’s status as the nation’s most dangerous region.
The incident occurred around 2:00 a.m. at a plaza in the central square of San Bartolo de Berrios, following a church-organized event. Local police found seven male bodies and a damaged van after receiving reports of gunfire, according to a statement from local authorities. About 100 shell casings were recovered from the location.
Authorities also discovered two banners with messages referencing the Santa Rosa de Lima gang, which is active in the region. The local government noted that such messages are typically left by cartels at crime scenes to threaten rivals or punish those who allegedly break their self-imposed rules.
Despite being a major industrial hub and home to numerous tourist attractions, Guanajuato recorded the highest number of homicides of any Mexican state last year, with 2,597 murders.
Experts attribute the ongoing violence to a conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal groups. This turf war has turned parts of the central Mexican state into hazardous areas where civilians, including children, are often caught in the crossfire.
In response to this latest event, the Episcopal Conference of Mexico, an organization of Mexican bishops, issued a strong condemnation. “We cannot remain indifferent in the face of the spiral of violence that affects so many communities,” the conference stated on May 20, 2025.
The Catholic leadership described the shooting as one among many that occur with “painful frequency” across the country, calling it an alarming sign of a weakening social fabric, widespread impunity, and the lack of peace in many areas of predominantly Catholic Mexico.
This attack is the latest in a series of deadly incidents in Guanajuato in recent months. In February 2025, eight people—five women and three men—were killed on a state street. The previous month, security forces engaged in a violent confrontation with suspected cartel members, resulting in ten alleged criminals dead and three police officers injured.
In December 2024, another mass casualty event occurred when eight people died and two were injured after gunmen fired on customers at a roadside stand in Guanajuato. The violence prompted the Catholic Church in Mexico to call on warring cartels to declare a truce.
In October 2024, authorities found the bodies of 12 police officers showing signs of torture in various parts of the region. The state prosecutor’s office reported that messages claiming cartel responsibility were left by the perpetrators. Within 24 hours of this discovery, gunmen attacked a residential addiction treatment center in the same municipality, killing four people.
Earlier in 2024, the violence claimed even younger victims when six members of the same family, including a baby and a toddler, were murdered in Guanajuato in June. The following month, a mayoral candidate was shot in the street just as her campaign was starting.
The ongoing violence has led the U.S. State Department to urge Americans to reconsider travel to Guanajuato. The department has expressed concern about the high number of murders in the southern part of the state linked to cartel-related violence. As of May 2025, the U.S. State Department has issued a Level 3 (“Reconsider Travel”) advisory for Guanajuato due to crime.
Since 2006, when the Mexican military began a major anti-drug operation, the country has recorded approximately 480,000 violent deaths. Critics of government security policies cite this figure as evidence that the militarized approach to combating cartels has not reduced violence and may have worsened territorial conflicts between rival criminal groups.
Law enforcement officials in Guanajuato have struggled to control the violence despite increased federal resources allocated to the state. Security experts suggest that the strategic location of Guanajuato—with highway networks connecting to major cities and border areas—makes it particularly valuable for criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, fuel theft, and extortion.
