Celaya will have Guanajuato's only AI-powered C6 center: facial recognition and predictive analytics

By La Silla Rota · June 25, 2026.

The mayor of Celaya, Juan Miguel Ramírez Sánchez, announced the creation of a Center for Command, Control, Computing, Communications and Citizen Contact (C6) powered by artificial intelligence, which according to the authorities will be the only one of its kind in the entire state of Guanajuato. It is expected to begin operations approximately one month from the date of the announcement.

The project does not start from scratch: it seeks to strengthen and modernize the C4 already operating in the municipality, upgrading it with cutting-edge technological equipment. In the mayor's own words: 'We are arranging the C4, we want to build a C6. We are going to set up a supercomputer, we are adding more drones, we are adding more cameras, we are negotiating with several businesses so that their cameras are also connected to the C4.'

**Technical capabilities of the new C6**

The article details three core artificial intelligence functionalities that the system will incorporate:

1. **Real-time facial recognition and license plate reading**: the integration of connected cameras—both municipal ones and those of private businesses through collaboration agreements—will feed an automatic identification system that will make it possible to track persons and vehicles of interest.

2. **Mass data cross-referencing to predict criminal incidents**: the system will analyze large volumes of historical and real-time information to anticipate where and when criminal events may occur, an approach known in the sector as *predictive policing*.

3. **Predictive analysis via supercomputer**: the municipality will acquire a supercomputer with greater memory capacity to process and interpret information more efficiently than with the previous hardware.

In addition, the C6 will centralize all calls handled through the 911 emergency number and will improve the communications network among the various municipal departments, consolidating the operational response to incidents at a single command point.

**Drones: the system's other pillar**

Ramírez Sánchez emphasized the expanded deployment of drones as a differentiating element, going so far as to state that 'no municipality, not even León, has more drones than us in operation.' León is the most populous and economically significant city in Guanajuato, so the comparison is deliberately symbolic: Celaya seeks to position itself as a technological benchmark in security within the state, regardless of size.

**Security context in Celaya and Guanajuato**

Celaya and the Bajío corridor have been the scene of high conflict related to organized crime in recent years, which makes technological investment in security a political and operational priority for local authorities. The bet on AI and drones responds to that pressure, although the article offers no quantitative data on crime reduction attributable to the previous C4 system.

**Implications for agentic and surveillance AI**

From the perspective of applied artificial intelligence, Celaya's C6 represents a use case of AI in public security environments with three relevant agentic components: perception (cameras, drones, license plate readers), processing (database cross-referencing, supercomputer) and action (delivery of strategic information to authorities for intervention). The system does not act autonomously in operational decision-making—at least as described—but rather a human team interprets the information generated by the AI before acting.

This hybrid architecture—AI as an analytical assistant, humans as final decision-makers—is the predominant model in urban surveillance systems in Latin America, where regulatory frameworks on the use of facial recognition in public spaces are still incipient or nonexistent, unlike what occurs in the European Union with the AI Act, which classifies real-time biometric identification systems in public spaces as high-risk and subjects them to strict restrictions.

**Risks and considerations**

The article does not address the risks associated with the deployment of these technologies: possible biases in facial recognition algorithms, misuse of the data collected, lack of independent oversight or absence of public accountability protocols. In general, *predictive policing* systems have been questioned in multiple contexts for tending to concentrate surveillance on communities already historically over-policed, amplifying inequalities rather than reducing them.

Nor is there any mention of the system's technology provider, the total cost of the investment or the audit mechanisms envisaged—elements that would be essential to assess the project's real soundness beyond the political announcement.

**Outlook**

If the C6 enters operation within the announced timeframe—around July 2026—Celaya will become the first municipality in Guanajuato with a command center of this technological level. The success or failure of the model in terms of effective reduction of criminal incidence will be a relevant indicator for other municipalities in the state and the country that are evaluating similar investments in AI-based security.