Mexico sends 500 additional troops to Jalisco due to increased violence

The Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) reinforced the Metropolitan Area of ​​Guadalajara (ZMG) with 500 military personnel, mainly due to the violence suffered by the state, where an average of 1.69 intentional homicides are recorded daily.

The group of half a thousand soldiers arrived in convoy in Guadalajara early this Sunday, March 13, and joined the ZMG through the 15/a Command Military area. Its objective is to reinforce security tasks through “various operations” and to contribute to the actions undertaken by state and municipal authorities.

The military elements are part of the so-called Joint Task Force Mexico, whose characteristics are “great mobility and power, but above all the ability to be quickly deployed to one or several parts of the national territory by land or air. It is made up of a combination of Infantry, National Guard, Paratroopers, and Special Forces units, depending on the characteristics of the geographical area where it will operate with the personnel under its command,” Sedena detailed.

“Its main mission is to strengthen the rule of law and the development of the daily activities of society, acting at all times with full respect for human rights”. At the moment it has not been specified in which municipalities the 500 elements that came to reinforce the entity’s security will act, although they are expected to act in conflictive zones such as Teocaltiche, Encarnación de Días, Tamazula, Manzanilla de la Paz, etc.

The head of the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena), Luis Cresencio Sandoval González, detailed in a report presented during the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on December 7, that there were 11,822 soldiers and elements of the National Guard (GN) in Jalisco. He detailed that it was specifically 5,571 from the Secretary of National Defense, 411 from the Secretary of the Navy, and 5,840 from the National Guard.

Last Thursday, on the borders of Michoacán and Jalisco, various acts of violence were reported that alarmed the inhabitants. Users on social networks recorded the arrival of alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), allegedly belonging to the forces of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, el Mencho.

The first events were recorded in the municipality of Jocotepec (Jalisco) where two elements were killed. According to official information, the uniformed men were attacked with bullets for no apparent reason. The governor of the state, Enrique Alfaro, explained that the assassins fled towards the neighboring entity of Michoacán.

Around 11:00 p.m., in Tamazula, two cargo vehicles were set on fire at the height of the Jiquilpan-Manzanillo federal highway, in the section that goes from Mazamitla to Tamazula. The drivers were not found inside the units, so how the fires started is still being investigated.

In social networks, inhabitants of the communities of Contla, El Veladero, and the Cabecera de Tamazula reported various clashes. Due to these events, the Tamazula city council wrote on Twitter: “As a result of the recent events of violence in communities surrounding the Municipality of Tamazula, as of this moment all government work and school work are suspended until further notice.” However, minutes later the publication was deleted and the authorities asked to continue normally.

Unofficial versions indicate that it would be an internal dispute of the CJNG between cells that operate in Jalisco and Michoacán. However, the ministerial offices did not provide further details to explain the uptick in violence in the last few days in the border area. The limits of Jalisco and Michoacán are strongholds of the CJNG, although the internal differences stood out on February 27, when hitmen under the command of Toro executed El Pelón and an undetermined number of his operators, after taking revenge at the funeral of his mother.

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