The city of Guadalajara erupted with cartel violence this past weekend, alongside other parts of Mexico, after an army raid left a notorious drug lord dead.
Now, Guadalajara is looking ahead nervously to the World Cup this summer, in which it will host four games.
Authorities are turning to technology to keep its slice of the planet’s premier sporting event safe, as Mexico is co-hosting the tournament with the United States and Canada.
Drones, anti-drone equipment and AI-driven video surveillance systems are some of the tools the state government of Jalisco — of which Guadalajara is the capital — will deploy to provide security.
The preparations come as Jalisco endures an epidemic of disappearances and the discoveries of clandestine graves, with Guadalajara having more of its residents go missing due to brutal drug-related violence than any other city in Mexico.
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On Sunday, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and one of the most wanted men in Mexico and the United States, was killed in a military operation some 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Guadalajara.
The cartel reacted with fury, triggering gunfire with security forces that left at least 57 people dead across Mexico — both soldiers and cartel members — as well as highway blockades in 20 states.
Following the burning of buses and businesses, authorities suspended football games in Guadalajara and the central state of Queretaro.
Football’s world governing body FIFA declined to comment on the violence in one of the cup’s host cities.
On Monday, the streets of Guadalajara remained semi-empty, as businesses stayed shut as classes were suspended in Jalisco. Schools also shut down in a dozen other states.
Days before, state security officials had reported that Guadalajara was “peaceful.”
Jalisco is one of the states with the most disappeared people in all of Mexico, with 12,575 reported missing, according to official statistics. More than half of the cases come from Guadalajara’s metropolitan area.
Disappearances are driven by forced recruitment for criminal groups, said Carmen Chinas, an academic at the University of Guadalajara.
Family members of disappeared people have unearthed hundreds of clandestine graves as they look for their loved ones.
Some activists have expressed dismay over Guadalajara’s hosting of the World Cup.
“I don’t think there is anything to celebrate. It seems like a pretty grotesque situation to me,” said 26-year-old Carmen Ponce, whose brother Victor Hugo was disappeared in 2020.
