Guadalajara mayor beefs up security as city is hit by wave of violence

Guadalajara Mayor Enrique Alfaro (left) has urged citizens not to panic amid the rise in violence.

The western Mexican city of Guadalajara has been hit by a wave of killings in recent weeks, which officials and academics have attributed to disputes between different cells of the local Jalisco New Generation Cartel and other rival gangs.

Guadalajara’s new mayor, Enrique Alfaro of the liberal Citizens’ Movement, has called for citizens not to panic and affirmed that his government has the situation under control.

“We want to send a message of unity and tranquility to the residents of this city,” he said last week. “We will do the necessary work to end this situation.”

Located in the western state of Jalisco, Guadalajara is Mexico’s second biggest city. It has generally been spared the worst of the drug-related violence experienced in Mexico’s most troubled states such as Tamaulipas, Guerrero and Michoacán, but there has been a notable increase in violence across the city and the state of Jalisco this year, mostly related to the New Generation Cartel…

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