The director of the Potable Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Board of Irapuato (JAPAMI), Roberto Castañeda, was assassinated this Thursday in an armed attack registered in Irapuato, Guanajuato, the municipal government reported. According to an official statement, the aggression occurred while Castañeda was driving his vehicle in Irapuato, a locality of more than 400,000 inhabitants and the second largest in Guanajuato. Following a report to the emergency system, security forces and medical services arrived at the scene and confirmed the death of the municipal official. The Citizen Security Secretariat deployed an operation in the area and maintains coordination with the Guanajuato State Prosecutor's Office, which initiated investigations to clarify the crime and arrest those responsible. The City Council condemned “energetically this cowardly act of violence” and expressed condolences to the family and collaborators of the head of JAPAMI. Meanwhile, the municipal president, Lorena Alfaro, also lamented the assassination through a message posted on her 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. The mayor 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 Prosecutor'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 assassination 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.
