More Autodefenses Rise Up in Guerrero

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Proceso

                                                 "Alianza de Autodefensa Ciudadana"
By: Ezeqial Flores Conteras

Chilpancingo, Gro : Inhabitants of Técpan de Galeana announced the creation of the community guard called "Alianza de Autodefensa Ciudadana", with which they seek to prevent the entry of the armed group that assumed the security of the neighboring municipality of Petatlán, on the Costa Grande.

Leaders of the new self-defense group said that the so-called Citizen Police of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG) is led by the leader of La Familia Michoacana , Johny Hurtado Olascoaga, aka "El Pescado" , based in the municipality of Arcelia , in the region of Tierra Caliente and who, they say, for two months mobilized an army of gunmen in the mountains to take control of the Costa Grande.

For this reason, the "Alianza de Autodefensa Ciudadana" decided to install checkpoints with armed civilians on the federal highway Acapulco-Zihuatanejo, at the height of the town of El Llano, Guerrero.

"The message is very clear for that side (Petatlán): we are going to put revision points and barricades with armed men so that no fish will pass through here," said one of the leaders yesterday during the public appearance of the new self-defense group.

               

In the improvised rally, he confirmed that they are negotiating with the authorities to pacify the state of Guerrero, "but we will start at home and we will not accept threats."

"We know of the bad habits and bad habits that have devastated other regions in Tierra Caliente such as Ciudad Altamirano and Arcelia where they are from. We know perfectly who they are and what they do, that's why we will not allow them to come to our land, " said the leader of the Técpan self-defense group.

"Here they are going to see peaceful, hardworking people, who are protecting those who still do not understand that if we do not do this they will regret it because they will close all the packages. They are going to come to extort, to kidnap and here it does not happen because we are united and we use reason, laws and management, " said one of the leaders of the group.

Mango packers operate in the region for export; All Ag producers are sick and tired of paying "piso" or extorsion fees.

In a statement, they claim not to be a new group nor to be police officers and recalled that they emerged in 2012 in Técpan, where they blocked for three days the highway that connects Acapulco with the Costa Grande region and claim to have a presence in the municipalities of Benito Juarez, Atoyac and Coyuca de Benítez.

At that time, the government of Ángel Aguirre Rivero accused the self-defenses of Técpan of being linked to the criminal group of "Los Granados", which operates in the region.

Now, six years later, this armed group decided to reappear publicly to make a call to the government of Hector Astudillo and prevent the expansion of the armed group that arrived from Tierra Caliente and keeps the municipality of Petatlán, they said.

Last week, the group that operates in Petatlán, self-styled Citizen Police of the Sierra and the Costa Grande, adhered to the UPOEG and led by Crescencio "El Chano" Arreola and Johny "El Pesacado" Hurtado, undertook an offensive against the antagonist side of the "Guardia Guerrerense" , led by Óliver "El Ruso"  Coria in the municipality of Petatlán, to control this coastal strip that borders the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo spa and the Lázaro Cárdenas port of the state of Michoacán.

The State of Guerrero:        

The state of Guerrero is one of the 31 states that together with the Federal District make up the 32 states of Mexico.

Its capital is the city of Chilpancingo de los Bravos It is bordered to the north by the states of Michoacán, México, Morelos and Puebla to the east by the state of Oaxaca and Puebla, to the south by the Pacific Ocean and to the west by the state of Michoacán de Ocampo and also by the Pacific Ocean .

The region of the  Costa Grande  is one of the seven regions that make up the state of  Guerrero , southwest of  Mexico . It is located in part of the south, southwest and west of the state, bordering to the north with the region of  Tierra Caliente  and part of the state of  Michoacán , to the south with the  Pacific Ocean , to the west with the state of  Michoacán  and part of the  Pacific Ocean , and to the east with the Acapulco  and Centro regions  .