UPDATED: Acapulco Gro: Car Bomb Explodes Outside the Communitarian Police Installation

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: ElSol and El Debate

By: José Francisco Zorroza and Carlos Moreno | The Sun of Acapulco

Guerrero.- An alleged car bomb exploded near the house of justice in the town of Xaltianguis, ( The outskirts of Acapulco ) where the Citizen Police of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG) are located, headed by the regional commander, Ernesto Gallardo Grande.

The attack caused no injury to people, however fear and intimidation was installed in the inhabitants; the presumed motive for the explosion. The UPOEG facilities were damaged extensively.

According to information from locals consulted, shortly before five o'clock on Wednesday, unknown men arrived in a vehicle that they placed a few meters in front of the command post, on the side of a vacant lot. The  vehicle was a Nissan Sentra that exploded and reached another motor unit that was parked, and the same explosion was strong enough to cause windows of houses near the area to  burst.

The explosion generated fear among residents of the town who expressed their feelings through social networks as the almost simultaneous explosions were heard. The people, after the explosions, leaned out their windows and seeing that there was no risk, they left their houses to observe the incident of violence.

For his part, the leader of the UPOEG, Bruno Plácido Valerio, reported that it was only a car that exploded near the command and in coordination with the government authorities responsible for the application of justice they are working to find out what kind of device caused the explosion .

He made a call to UPOEG members that are distributed in the state, so they were alerted to establish a new coordination system to prevent other members to be alert for a new incident that could cause harm to members of the citizen police. 

In Addition the Prosecutor's Office detonates an artifact in Acapulco:

The State Prosecutor General's Office confirmed that it was a detonation of an artifact inside a vehicle and stated that seven private vehicles were damaged, after the events registered in the town of Xaltianguis, belonging to the municipality of Acapulco; also, it provoked an intense police mobilization of the three orders of government and a flyby of a helicopter to promote extra security.

The agency said in a brief press release, that the above was according to the opinion of experts of the Prosecutor's Office in the area that was cordoned off, situation derived from the explosion of a gas tank cylinder (propane), which would have been manipulated previously for the incident; in other words: a homemade device made from a propane tank and rigged/ timed to be detonated.

It was indicated that the Attorney General of the State, Jorge Zuriel de los Santos Barrila and the Secretary of State Public Security, David Portillo Menchaca, who went to the scene, while the former directed the proceedings of the Public Ministry for the integration of the folder of corresponding investigation.

    Citizen Police of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG)

More violence:

On March 2,  a house related to the family of the regional commander of the UPOEG,  Ernesto Gallardo Grande, was attacked by gunmen by armed men in the town of Xaltianguis near Acapulco, when a gathering was taking place; during the early hours of the assault,  a taxi driver was shot to death and a woman was injured.

A day later in a new confrontation a man was executed, confirmed the leader, Bruno Plácido Valerio, in a press conference, that same day in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, on March 4,  an attempt was made to disarm the UPOEG citizen police,  a convoy of La Marina troops, Federal and State police surrounded the house of justice in the town of Xaltianguis, causing the closure of the federal highway Acapulco-Mexico for almost four hours, where a helicopter flew over the area.

Staff of the State Attorney General, Military and other police corporations, came to the scene to conduct investigations and provide security for the nearby residents.

They also confirmed that elements of the Ministry of National Defense, Federal Police, State Police and Ministerial Agents were deployed, with the purpose of initiating the search for those responsible for this fact; "So far there have been no personal injuries or incidents repeated."

UPDATE: Thurs 1 pm;

Previously, UPOEG has registered a series of confrontations against the gang identified as 'Los Dumbos' . The UPOEG and the Community Police of the CRAC , operate in the rural area of Acapulco.

Authorities in Guerrero say they have already located four alleged perpetrators of the explosion of a car bomb in Acapulco and say that the incident is related to the dispute between groups of community police.

The explosion occurred on Wednesday afternoon outside the offices of the Union of Peoples and Organizations of the State of Guerrero (UPOEG) was heard throughout Xaltianguis, did not cause either dead or injured, but damaged seven cars parked within a radius of 40 meters. In addition, it demolished a partition wall 15 centimeters thick and caused damages on facades.

In the place, personnel of the State Attorney's office and elements of the Community Police of the UPOEG found indications that the cylindrical device that detonated was activated from a distance.

The experts arrived and blinded and found another device that had not detonated, was detonated from a distance by means of a cell phone, even the Prosecutor's Office took the phone that was inside, "said Ernesto Gallardo Grande, commander of the UPOEG community police.

The Prosecutor's Office assures that the attack is related to the dispute between two antagonistic groups over the control of Xaltianguis, a rural area near the port of Acapulco, in which groups of community police operate since 2013; on the one hand, the UPOEG Citizen Police, and on the other, the group identified as community police. The dispute has intensified since January, during the gas supply crisis.