With just months to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which Mexico will co-host alongside the United States and Canada, a deadly attack at a local football game has reignited serious concerns about safety in one of the tournament’s host nations.
Eleven people were shot dead on Sunday at a community football match in the small town of Loma de Flores, near the city of Salamanca in Guanajuato state.
The incident has shaken residents of a region where grassroots sport is widely promoted as a way of steering young people away from the influence of drug cartels.
“We no longer know where to find peace,” Norma Barron, one of the organisers of the local league that was targeted, told AFP.
The shooting unfolded late on Sunday afternoon as families gathered around the pitch to watch a match draw to a close. According to Barron, armed men arrived at the venue in at least three vehicles before opening fire.
Barron, who is also an activist with a collective searching for the tens of thousands of Mexicans who have disappeared, many believed to have been kidnapped and killed by criminal groups, was in the southern state of Oaxaca when the attack happened. Her adult son was among those at the game.
“As soon as the shooting began, my son called me,” she said. “‘They’re attacking people, there are several dead, we’re taking cover.’”
By Monday, the football field bore stark evidence of the violence. Blood stains were still visible on the grass, while items of players’ clothing lay scattered across the pitch. Discarded beer cans and candles lit in memory of the victims added to the grim scene. Nearby, several cars remained abandoned after their owners fled in panic.
Local and federal authorities confirmed that 11 people were killed, with a further 10 injured by gunfire, including a woman and a minor. Residents told AFP the shooting lasted between 15 and 20 minutes.
A preliminary investigation suggests the attack was the result of a score-settling between rival criminal gangs. Among the dead were at least five members of a private security company tasked with protecting the venue and ensuring that attendees were unarmed.
A federal security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the guards were believed to have been targeted because they worked for a company allegedly linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
The attackers are suspected to belong to the rival Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, which is locked in a long-running battle with the CJNG over fuel theft, drug trafficking and extortion in the state.
Cardboard signs left at the scene reportedly contained messages pointing to the feud between the two groups.
The massacre has once again highlighted the scale of violence in Guanajuato, an important industrial centre that is also one of Mexico’s most dangerous states.
Despite President Claudia Sheinbaum’s claims that the national murder rate has fallen to its lowest level in a decade since she took office in October 2024, Guanajuato remains a glaring exception.
The state’s murder rate stands at more than twice the national average, at 38.84 per 100,000 people. It has also been the site of several high-profile attacks on social gatherings in recent years, including a shooting at a Christmas party in December 2023 that killed 11 people and an attack at a swimming pool in April the same year that left six dead.
In response to Sunday’s killings, Guanajuato Governor Libia Garcia announced on Monday that state and federal forces had launched a joint security operation in the area.
