Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Oct. 8, 2026 — Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit and Zacatecas launched a coordinated mountain security operation this week after Indigenous communities demanded protection, Durango’s security chief said.
Durango Security Secretary Óscar Galván Villarreal said soldiers and state police deployed toward Mezquital. National Guard personnel will join the operation, he said.
Wixárika residents of San Andrés Cohamiata previously reported increased violence linked to confrontations between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Sinaloa cartel factions.
Deployment focuses on northern mountain communities
We reviewed the reported deployment locations for Puerto Vallarta readers. Galván Villarreal identified Mezquital, Durango, while Jalisco officials described related operations in San Andrés Cohamiata, in northern Jalisco’s Mezquitic municipality.
Those reports concern inland communities near the states’ boundaries. They do not announce a deployment in Puerto Vallarta or Bahía de Banderas.
Galván Villarreal said the four states agreed to coordinate after meeting with the regional military commander in Guadalajara. Each state will conduct operations within its territory, he said.
The strategy includes a joint operations base intended to maintain a permanent security presence, particularly around Indigenous communities, the Durango official said.
Patrols support food deliveries and school travel
For San Andrés Cohamiata residents, the security measures also cover access to food, supplies and education. At an Oct. 1 meeting, Jalisco Security Secretary Juan Pablo Hernández said police accompany supply trucks and student transport.
Gen. Porfirio Fuentes Vélez, commander of the Fifth Military Region, told participants that five joint operations bases were operating in the area. Army, National Guard and state police personnel staff those bases, he said.
Fuentes Vélez also reported work to clear roads blocked by landslides. Hernández said officers conduct ground patrols and daily drone flights.
Efrén de Jesús Moreno de la Cruz, president of San Andrés Cohamiata’s communal land authority, said residents were evaluating the security forces’ work through ongoing community assemblies.
“I think progress has been made,” he said at the meeting, speaking in Spanish.
Security conditions affect rural road projects
The community’s transport needs extend beyond patrols. Plácido Alberto García Sánchez, the federal transport ministry’s representative in Jalisco, said security conditions prevented the ministry from delivering road works in 2026.
His agency invested approximately 22 million pesos in two community roads during 2025, he said. It plans to resume investment in 2027 to continue and complete pending projects.
Community representatives also sought coordination to protect pilgrimages beginning in March 2027, according to the Oct. 1 meeting account.
The Wixárika Route through Sacred Sites to Wirikuta received World Heritage status in 2025. UNESCO describes it as a network connecting sacred landscapes across Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Durango.
