Public Safety Secretary Minerva Bautista was among the wounded but was recovering from non-life-threatening injuries, according to the state attorney general’s office. She was traveling in a bullet-resistant sport utility vehicle.
State Attorney General Jesus Montejano told the local Milenio television station that the attackers used assault rifles, grenades, a grenade launcher and a powerful .50-caliber sniper rifle whose rounds are capable of penetrating bullet-resistant materials.
“In the ambush, they used concentrated fire from these types of weapons, forcing her and her escort to crash into a trailer truck that they had pulled across the road,” Montejano said.
*****
I posted three stories here, that are pretty telling of where Mexico is at with their war against the cartels. There are two ways to read this. Either the cartels are threatened more by the government and authorities, or the cartels are thinking in terms of taking the fight out of the authorities so they can continue to eradicate their competition. So is the government a threat, or are they just getting in the way? Interesting stuff, and this first article below goes into the various angles on this.
My personal thoughts on it, is that the cartels will do whatever they need to do in order to win control over the drug markets. If law enforcement or government officials directly or indirectly help their competitors, they will do what they can to remove that element of the equation. Because I really think that if the cartels were purely focused on combatting the government, we would see way more deaths of officials. The death toll figures support this as well, with most of the deaths in the war being members of the drug cartels. But this could change, and we will see how this goes.
None the less, these are still attacks on the state. And when the cartels start using .50 caliber sniper rifles (see second story below), grenade launchers, and assault rifles against armored motorcades in well coordinated ambushes, I tend to take notice. Unfortunately, the next level will probably be more usage of IED’s in these ambushes and all of the rules of Iraq and Afghanistan will apply to this latest evolution of the drug war.
The third story is another disturbing tale about cartels purposely attacking law enforcement. Seven officers killed is pretty bad, and that indicates to me that the cartels have absolutely no fear or respect for law enforcement. They are just obstacles that need to be removed, so they can focus on the bigger war of gaining territory for their drug operations. Thanks to Doug and others for sending me these stories. –Matt
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An injured bodyguard of Mexico’s Michoacan state’s public safety secretary walks with help from a police officer after being wounded during a shootout in Morelia, Mexico, early Saturday. A fellow bodyguard lies dead.
Mexico says cartels turning attacks on authorities
By MARK STEVENSONThe Associated PressSunday, April 25, 2010
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s drug cartels have changed tactics and are turning more attacks on authorities, rather than focusing their fire on rivals gangs, the country’s top security official said Sunday.
Interior Secretary Fernandez Gomez-Mont said at a news conference that two back-to-back, bloody ambushes of government convoys – both blamed on cartels – represent a new tactic.
“In the last few weeks the dynamics of the violence have changed. The criminals have decided to directly confront and attack the authorities,” Gomez-Mont said.
“They are trying to direct their fire power at what they fear most at this moment, which is the authorities,” he said.
Officials here have long said that more than 90 percent of the death toll in Mexico’s wave of drug violence – which has claimed more than 22,700 lives since a government crackdown began in December 2006 – are victims of disputes between rival gangs.
Mexican drug gangs have been known to target security officials. The nation’s acting federal police chief was shot dead in May 2008 in an attack attributed to drug traffickers lashing back at President Felipe Calderon’s offensive against organized crime.
But such high-profile attacks were rare in comparison to inter-gang warfare. But after the large-scale attacks on officials Friday and Saturday, “casualties among the authorities are beginning to increase in this battle,” Gomez-Mont said.
On Saturday, gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked a convoy carrying the top security official of the western state of Michoacan, in what appeared to be a carefully planned ambush.
The official survived with non-life-threatening wounds – she was traveling in a bullet-resistant SUV – but two of her bodyguards and two passers-by were killed. Of the other nine people wounded, most were bystanders, including two girls ages 2 and 12.
Gomez-Mont said the attack was carried out by a group known as “The Resistance,” an outgrowth of the Michoacan-based La Familia drug cartel.
It came a day after, gunmen ambushed two police vehicles at a busy intersection in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing seven officers and a 17-year-old boy caught in the crossfire. Two more officers were seriously wounded.
Hours after that attack, a painted message directed at top federal police commanders and claiming responsibility for the attack appeared on a wall in downtown Ciudad Juarez. It was apparently signed by La Linea, the enforcement arm of the Juarez drug cartel. The Juarez cartel has been locked in a bloody turf battle with the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
“This will happen to you … for being with El Chapo Guzman and to all the dirtbags who support him. Sincerely, La Linea,” the message read. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified.
Gomez-Mont, who is responsible for domestic security affairs, said the United States has to do more to stop cross-border gangs and illicit trade in weapons and money.
He said some gangs “find a certain kind of sanctuary on the other side of the border,” referring to Los Aztecas, a Ciudad Juarez gang that also operates in the United States, where it is known as the Barrio Azteca gang.
“They (the United States) contribute very important components in the dynamic of violence,” Gomez-Mont said.
“We need the Americans to step up and recognize the fact that it is their money, their drug demand, that foments and encourages the violence in Mexico. We need the Americans to assume their responsibility,” he said.
The U.S. has supported Mexico’s offensive, providing helicopters, dogs, surveillance gear and other law-enforcement support through the $1.3 billion Merida Initiative. “That is not a small amount, but it is not sufficient,” Gomez-Mont said.
A few hours before his comments, the military reported that Mexican soldiers killed five men Saturday in a shootout with assailants in a town near the northern city of Monterrey and detained six police officers on suspicion of helping the attackers. The Defense Department alleged the police tried to interfere with the troops during the confrontation.
Drug cartels are known to operate in the area, and many members of local police forces are suspected of aiding the gangs.
In the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, a drive-by shooting killed the local leader of the tiny Labor Party outside his home Sunday, state police reported. Former legislator Rey Hernandez Garcia was hit by seven gunshots.
Police did not offer any information on a possible motive in the attack.
Story here.
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Mexico security official’s convoy ambushed
Four killed, 10 wounded by gunmen with assault rifles, grenades
By GUSTAVO RUIZ
April 24, 2010
MORELIA, Mexico – Gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked a convoy carrying the top security official of the western state of Michoacan on Saturday, killing four and wounding 10 in Mexico’s second brazen ambush in as many days.
Public Safety Secretary Minerva Bautista was among the wounded but was recovering from non-life-threatening injuries, according to the state attorney general’s office. She was traveling in a bullet-resistant sport utility vehicle.
State Attorney General Jesus Montejano told the local Milenio television station that the attackers used assault rifles, grenades, a grenade launcher and a powerful .50-caliber sniper rifle whose rounds are capable of penetrating bullet-resistant materials.
“In the ambush, they used concentrated fire from these types of weapons, forcing her and her escort to crash into a trailer truck that they had pulled across the road,” Montejano said.
The dead included two of Bautista’s bodyguards and two bystanders. Of the other nine people wounded, most were bystanders, including two girls ages 2 and 12.
Montejano said most of those wounded were people returning from a regional fair, whose opening Bautista had also attended. She was returning from the fair when her three-vehicle convoy was attacked just after midnight.
Attackers’ identity, motive unclearThere was no immediate information on the identity of the attackers, who numbered about 20, or on a possible motive. However, drug violence is common in Michoacan, the home base of the drug cartel known as La Familia.
Mexican drug cartels have been known to target security officials. The acting federal police chief was shot dead in May 2008 in an attack attributed to drug traffickers lashing back at a nationwide crackdown on organized crime.
In a statement Saturday, the Interior Department called the attack “a cowardly act that shows the desperation of organized crime organizations whose room to maneuver in illicit activities has been increasingly curtailed by authorities.”
Several hours later after the ambush, assailants tossed a hand grenade at a police station in the Michoacan state capital, Morelia, about 30 yards (meters) from the state public safety department’s headquarters. The explosion damaged three vehicles, but nobody was hurt.
Farther south, in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, the dismembered bodies of three men were found in plastic bags inside a home outside the resort of Acapulco on Saturday.
Guerrero state police said a message was found at the scene. Mexican police generally do not release the contents of such messages, but local media said the hand-lettered sign blamed the three dead men for an April 14 shooting that killed six people on Acapulco’s main boulevard.
That daylight shooting in Acapulco’s balmy tourist zone killed a mother and her 8-year-old child, a taxi driver, a federal police officer and two other men.
One of the suspects detained in that shooting is described as an associate of Texas-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal, nicknamed “La Barbie,” who Mexican federal authorities believe is battling Hector Beltran Leyva for control of the Beltran Leyva cartel. There was no indication which gang the three dismembered men belonged to.
Ciudad Juarez ambushOn Friday, gunmen ambushed two police vehicles at a busy intersection in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing seven officers and a 17-year-old boy caught in the crossfire. Two more officers were seriously wounded.
Authorities said the officers had stopped to talk to a street vendor who flagged them down for help. Gunmen suddenly opened fire from behind, then fled in three vehicles.
Hours after the attack, a painted message directed to top federal police commanders and claiming responsibility for the attack appeared on a wall in downtown Ciudad Juarez. It was apparently signed by La Linea, the enforcement arm of the Juarez drug cartel. The Juarez cartel has been locked in a bloody turf battle with the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
“This will happen to you … for being with El Chapo Guzman and to all the dirtbags who support him. Sincerely, La Linea,” the message read. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified.
Also Saturday, prosecutors in Chihuahua state — where Ciudad Juarez is located — announced the arrest of a man suspected of participating in last year’s killing of an anti-crime activist and a neighbor, both of whom lived in rural Chihuahua but held dual U.S. citizenship.
Ubaldo Rohan was charged with acting as a lookout in the kidnapping of activist Benjamin LeBaron’s brother, Eric. After LeBaron protested the kidnapped, he and a neighbor were killed.
Rohan, like other suspects in the case, is allegedly linked to the Juarez drug cartel. He faces homicide, kidnapping and weapons charges.
More than 22,700 people have been killed in Mexico’s drug war since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against the cartels.
Story here.
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7 Mexican police officers killed in Ciudad Juarez
By OLIVIA TORRES
April 25, 2010
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — Gunmen ambushed two police vehicles at a busy intersection in this drug- and violence-plagued city, killing seven officers and a 17-year-old boy who was passing by, authorities said.
Six of the police officers killed in Friday’s attack were federal, and one was a local police woman, said Enrique Torres Valadez, a spokesman for the state of Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located. Two local police officers were in critical condition.
Authorities said the police officers had stopped to talk to a street vendor who flagged them down for help when gunmen opened fire from behind their pickup patrol trucks. The assailants fled in three vehicles.
Investigators said they don’t know why the officers were shot, although they don’t believe they were targeted because of any recent arrests they had made.
No one has been arrested but police said they have recovered two of the three cars used in the shooting.
Hours after the attack, a painted message directed to top federal police commanders and claiming responsibility for the attack appeared on a wall in downtown Ciudad Juarez. It was apparently signed by La Linea gang, the enforcement arm of the Juarez drug cartel. The Juarez cartel has been locked in a bloody turf battle with the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
“This will happen to you … for being with El Chapo Guzman and to all the dirtbags who support him. Sincerely, La Linea,” the message read. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified.
Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million across from El Paso, Texas, is one of the world’s deadliest cities, and a two-year turf battle between drug cartels has left more than 5,000 people dead.
Elsewhere, police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero said they found the bodies of five men who had been shot to death lying on a dirt road near the state capital, Chilpancingo. Three of the men were brothers, all in their 20s.
The state has been a major battleground for warring cartels, including the Beltran Leyva gang, but it was not clear whether the shootings were part of the ongoing drug violence.
In central Morelos state, federal police and the Mexican army raided two ranch homes and arrested 15 men near the town of Amacuzac. Those arrested were taken to Mexico City in a helicopter.
The men are suspected of working for alleged drug trafficker Jose Gerardo Alvarez Vazquez, who was arrested on Wednesday in Mexico City, said Ramon Pequeno, the head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico’s federal police.
Authorities say Alvarez Vazquez has been battling for control of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel with his partner, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a U.S.-born enforcer known as “La Barbie.”
Pequeno said the men arrested provided security and carried out killings for Alvarez Vazquez and Valdez Villarreal.
In the western state of Michoacan late Friday, the mayor of a town arrested last year for alleged ties to drug traffickers was released from prison.
Genaro Guisar Valencia, who was stripped by lawmakers of his post as mayor of Apatzingan because of his arrest, told reporters outside the prison in the state capital of Morelia that he would ask the state’s legislature to reverse its decision.
Guisar Valencia was among 12 Mexican mayors arrested last year in an unprecedented roundup of elected officials accused of protecting drug traffickers in Michoacan.
He’s the ninth mayor released for lack of evidence.
An estimated 22,700 people have been killed in Mexico’s drug war since December 2006.
Story here.
So how long before the cartels start “removing” law enf. on this side of the border?
Comment by ron — Thursday, April 14, 2016 @ 6:44 AM