Thursday 25 July 2013

More policemen killed in attacks in western Mexico

Mexican authorities raised from two to four the number of policemen killed in seven attacks gangs launched on police convoys on 23 July in the western state of Michoacán; the press earlier reported six attacks, which the police repelled, killing 20 assailants. The seventh ambush occurred late on 23 July on the road between Lázaro Cárdenas and Colima in the district of Aquila, though no criminals were immediately reported killed here. In total 30 policemen were injured in all attacks that day, La Crónica de Hoy reported. The daily reported separately that members of the community police of the district of Aquila abandoned after four hours the municipal government offices they occupied on 24 July; it cited the occupation as the first action taken by this particular force, reportedly now including some 200 armed locals, since its formation days before. The mayor of Aquila Juan Hernández Ramírez urged the Mexican government to send more troops to the area, observing however that the community police used no violence when disarming the municipal police and briefly usurping its duties. The governor of Michoacán Jesús Reyna told Milenio television on 24 July that an unspecified number of troops and police were to be sent to the state after recent attacks, while urging the state to act "with greater decision" against crime there, Milenio reported. The neighbouring state of Querétaro was in turn reported to be sending troops and police to "fortify" its border with Michoacán. Prominent parliamentarians reacted with consternation at organised crime's increasingly brazen presence in Michoacán. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party's coordinator in the Senate Emilio Gamboa Patrón said the attacks were "indefensible... the chaos...shooting at each other for 18 hours. This shows things are not well," La Crónica de Hoy reported on 25 July. The opposition Democratic Revolutionary Party's coordinator in the Senate Miguel Barbosa Huerta said criminals' capacities appeared to "exceed" those of the state, while Jorge Luis Preciado Rodríguez of the conservative National Action Party urged the government to "get tough" in Michoacán.