Attacks with explosives increase in Mexico and the most recent leaves at least six dead in Jalisco

Six dead and 12 injured left an attack with explosives against a police patrol in the state Mexican of Jalisco (west), an unusual practice that, according to experts, the cartels of the drug trafficking to terrorize the security forces.

Almost a week after a car bomb killed a member of the militarized National Guard and injured three more in the state of Guanajuato (center), the explosion of various craft devices on Tuesday night killed six people, including three policemen, in Tlajomulcooutskirts of the city of Guadalajara.

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It has not yet been reported who the other three deceased are.

In addition, 12 people were injured, he said Wednesday Enrique Alfarogovernor of Jaliscoone of the states hardest hit by drug violence with 1,095 homicides and some 750 disappearances between last January and June, according to official figures.

Forensic employees load a body after an explosive attack against a police patrol in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, a suburb of the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on July 12, 2023. (Photo by ULISES RUIZ / AFP) ( ULISES RUIZ /)

“It’s a brutal act of terror”, added Alfaro, who attributed the attack to the “organized crime”. The region is the base of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most powerful with a presence in several countries.

The official denounced that this unprecedented event in Jalisco “it was a trap” and constitutes a “challenge” to the Mexican State.

“They are strategies of extreme violence to intimidate the authorities (…) and the population”, he commented to AFP gerardo rodriguezresearcher at the Department of International Relations and Political Science of the Universidad de las Américas Puebla.

disputed version

According to Alfaro, the attack occurred when a commission of police and prosecutors was verifying clues about a clandestine grave, reported in an anonymous call to a member of a civil collective that is looking for missing persons.

But that version was denied by one of the organizations. “That call was never made to us (…)”, he assured the press Indira Navarroof the Collective Seeking Mothers of Jaliscowho pointed out that the associations dedicated to this activity are in permanent communication.

Jalisco is the Mexican state with the most disappeared, some 15,000 out of a total of 111,200 registered from 1962 to date throughout the country, according to official data.

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Sectors of Tlajomulco have become authentic cemeteries. Some 200 bodies have been found there this year, a phenomenon linked to cartel wars, although not all of the victims are involved in crimes.

Bomb attacks are rare in Mexicobut in recent months they have also been recorded in areas such as Michoacanwhere last Sunday a drone with explosives hit a house of apatzingan hurting a person.

Attacks with these devices have also been reported in Guanajuato and Jalisco (west) by the Defense Secretariat, which has blamed the CJNG.

The objective is “reduce the fire capacity of rivals from other cartels, (as well as) the security forces, and provoke terror among the civilian population”, the security consultant told AFP David Saucedowho classifies these actions as “narcoterrorism”.

The CJNG is also credited with shooting down a military helicopter with a rocket launcher in 2015, an event that killed six officers in a rural area of ​​Jalisco. By the head of this organization, Nemesio Oseguera “the mencho”, the United States offers 10 million dollars.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejects the claim of US congressmen to classify the Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations, considering that it would be the excuse for a military intervention in their country.

criticism of the government

The explosions in Tlajomulco occurred the same day that 13 security agents were released in the city of chilpancingo (south), after being detained during a violent riot that, according to the authorities, fueled the Los Ardillos cartel to pressure the release of two of its leaders.

The release of the officials occurred after negotiations between the government and the protesters, an episode that fueled criticism of the security policy of “hugs, not bullets” of the leftist president.

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“Peace is the fruit of justice, not of coercive measures”, López Obrador defended this Wednesday, who maintains that the military anti-drug approach has only left a bloodbath without having managed to stop drug trafficking.

Since 2006, when this offensive was launched with the participation of the Army and the Navy, Mexico has accumulated some 350,000 murders, the majority attributed to drug trafficking organizations.

Source: Elcomercio