Seven individuals were killed, and five injured in a violent attack by gunmen at an illicit bar in Villahermosa, a city in the southeastern state of Tabasco, Mexico where cartel violence is on the rise. The assault at La Casita Azul on January 4 is the third mass shooting at a drinking hub in Tabasco in just two months.
State government spokesperson Fernando Vazquez Rosas informed the media that state and federal forces have initiated an operation to hunt down the culprits of this deadly shooting. Surveillance camera footage is currently under scrutiny as part of the investigative process.
Tabasco, located on the Gulf Coast and hosting the country’s primary oil production facilities, has been grappling with an upswing in violent incidents since December 2023. Omar García Harfuch, Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection, stated that state and federal units have been conducting coordinated patrols to identify and apprehend the perpetrators.
The state’s increasing violence was further underscored last month when a prison riot in Tabasco resulted in the death of seven inmates. This, along with the bar shootings, has necessitated the amplification of regional security measures.
This uptick in violence is part of a larger pattern observed across Mexico. In November 2024, a Villahermosa bar was targeted by gunmen, leaving six dead and ten wounded. Earlier the same month, an assault in Queretaro resulted in ten fatalities, while a bar shooting in a Mexico City suburb claimed six lives.
Homicides linked to organized crime in Mexico have been steadily increasing, with 28,328 cases reported in 2020, marking a 21% rise from the previous year. Since the government first started its military campaign against drug trafficking in 2006, drug-related violence has led to over 450,000 fatalities.
Claudia Sheinbaum, who assumed the presidency on October 1, 2024, has launched a comprehensive security strategy with a focus on four main areas: poverty reduction, bolstering the operational capacity of the National Guard, enhancing intelligence capabilities, and improving federal-state security agency coordination.
Sheinbaum’s strategy does not include a war on cartels but proposes a method centered on intelligence gathering to reduce cartel activities, while continuing with the social programs initiated by her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have significantly extended their reach, with recent internal conflicts within the Sinaloa Cartel resulting in over 150 deaths. Addressing this ongoing cartel war will be a crucial part of Sheinbaum’s broader initiative to curb violence.
As part of her fresh approach to security, Sheinbaum plans to establish a National Intelligence System and a Subsecretary of Intelligence and Police Investigation to enhance the detection and dismantling of criminal networks. While this marks a shift from the “hugs, not bullets” strategy of the previous administration, it retains some social programs aimed at preventing the recruitment of youth by organized crime.
Sheinbaum’s administration faces a significant challenge, as criminal organizations have gained control over approximately one-third of Mexican territory. The Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels, dominating drug trafficking routes to the US, are mainly responsible for the distribution of fentanyl, which contributes to drug overdoses in the United States.
As reported by the Council on Foreign Relations, Mexico has seen an annual average of over 30,000 homicides since 2018, underscoring the persistent security challenges the country faces.
