The director of the Potable Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Board of Irapuato (JAPAMI), Roberto Castañeda, was murdered this Thursday in an armed attack in Irapuato, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, according to the municipal government. The aggression occurred while Castañeda was driving in his vehicle in Irapuato, a locality of over 400,000 inhabitants and the second largest in Guanajuato, according to the official communiqué. Following a report to the emergency system, security forces and medical services attended the scene and confirmed the death of the official. The Citizen Security Secretariat deployed an operation in the area and maintains coordination with the Guanajuato State Attorney General's Office, which initiated investigations to clarify the crime and arrest those responsible. The City Council strongly condemned «this cowardly act of violence» and expressed condolences to the family and collaborators of the head of JAPAMI. In turn, the municipal president, Lorena Alfaro, also lamented the murder through a message disseminated on social networks. «With deep sadness, I confirm the death of Roberto Castañeda, director of JAPAMI, an exemplary public servant, but above all, a great human being,» she wrote. Alfaro assured that Castañeda was «an upright man, committed to Irapuato and with a deep sense of service,» and affirmed that his death «hurts us and angers us.» The mayoress condemned «with all firmness this act of violence» and pointed out that she instructed the Citizen Security Secretariat to maintain full coordination with the state Attorney General's Office to ensure that the case is not left unpunished. «We are not going to allow this fact to go unpunished,» she emphasized. The murder occurs in a context of persistent violence in Guanajuato, the state with the highest number of intentional homicides in the country in recent years, and where armed attacks against municipal officials and personnel of public bodies have been frequent.
