Involving knives, guns, and even bare hands, violent business robberies have become a daily occurrence in the municipality of La Paz. Merchants are expressing their dissatisfaction over the lack of police patrols in residential neighborhoods, despite the “increased presence” resulting from the Holy Week security operation in the commercial district.
Records from the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System indicate that in Baja California Sur, business robberies rose by 12.6 percent in 2026. Meanwhile, violent business robberies saw a staggering 133 percent increase when comparing the first two months of this year against the first two months of 2025.
Two robberies took place in La Paz on the night of Saturday, April 4. At 8:51 PM, at the intersection of Puerto Chale and Puerto Cortés streets in the Olas Altas neighborhood, Fátima de los Ángeles—a 21-year-old manager at a Tecate Six store—informed officers from unit SPM-255 that, moments earlier, a tall, stocky, dark-complexioned man wearing a green sweatshirt and jeans had demanded the cash from the register while brandishing a pistol.
The officers calmed the cashier and took her statement, which was subsequently filed under case number NUC/2306/2026. Meanwhile, less than 30 minutes later—this time on Santa Isabel Street, between San Joaquín and San Abraham in the San Carlos neighborhood—another robbery had just occurred at a local establishment. Officers from unit SPM-276 responded to the report and met with the store manager—a 23-year-old named Marlin—who stated that a person of medium build and short hair had arrived. “He had already visited three times over the course of the day; on this last occasion, he entered the establishment and took two 12-pack cartons of beer from the cooler—one ‘light’ variety and the other ‘Pacífico Amarillo’—then headed toward the main entrance and ran out, at which point [the manager] heard the sound of a departing motorcycle,” municipal police officers noted.
Despite complaints from the public, Rut de la Fuente Velázquez—Director General of Public Security, Preventive Police, and Municipal Traffic for La Paz—explained that authorities have focused on maintaining a greater street presence in order to deter crime within the capital city.
