The State Prosecutor’s Office will start a new phase of its security plan, known as Volantas, in Puerto Vallarta and other regions of the state with a high incidence of crime, announced the security commissioner, Raúl Alejandro Velázquez Ruiz.
Volantas is a combined force of local, state, and federal police assigned to patrolling streets with the goal of reducing crime.
The decision was made after reviewing the results of the first month of operation in Guadalajara, where 214 people were arrested, mainly for drugs, possession of a firearm, and vehicle theft, in addition to 34 people with arrest warrants.
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The commissioner clarified that he has not yet met with the commissaries of the areas where the patrols will start because the decision to expand the operation in the state was made on Wednesday, but next week he plans to meet with local governments.
“We are going to start with at least two regions, Los Altos and Puerto Vallarta, those with the highest incidence in the area of auto theft, home burglary, and homicide,” he said.
One of the issues that have most affected the State of Jalisco is insecurity. In six years, the State has faced scandals, crises, and attacks that on more than one occasion have put the authorities in check. These are some of the most important events:
- Murder of the Secretary of Tourism. Only a few days after the start of the administration, the Government of Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz suffered his first wobble in security: the Tourism Secretary was executed on March 9, 2013.
- Ambush in San Sebastián del Oeste. Elements of the Single Force were killed in an attack perpetrated in April 2015 by the New Generation cartel, in retaliation for the death of a leader of the group known as “El Gringo”. The death of 15 officers was confirmed.
- Missing film students. Three students from the University of Audiovisual Arts (CAAV) disappeared in the municipality of Tonalá in March of this year. The case attracted international attention after it was announced that the bodies of the youths were dissolved in acid by members of organized crime.
- An attack against Luis Carlos Nájera. The former prosecutor and Labor Secretary was the victim of an attack when leaving a restaurant on Chapultepec Avenue last June. Simultaneously there were attacks against public transport units, which were set on fire. These aggressions caused the death of a baby and his mother. Najera survived the attack and left his position in the state government.
- Bodies in trailers. The international controversy returned to the State Government after it was announced that there was not enough space in the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences (IJCF), an entity that stored hundreds of bodies in refrigerated trailer chambers. One of them even made a tour of several municipalities of the ZMG. The case revealed that the IJCF was overwhelmed by the wave of violence in the State.