"Los Rojos" Confrontation in Zitlala, Guerrero Leaves Nine Dead

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Milenio y Infobae

A confrontation between armed civilians left at least nine people dead from the Los Rojos criminal group in the municipality of Zitlala, Guerrero .

The confrontation occurred at the point known as La Cribadora of the Zitlala – Pochahuizco road, where police collected about 50 caps of various weapons allegedly used by criminals during this armed clash.

State police and prosecutor agents located the bodies upon arriving at the site after they received a call to the emergency telephone number that reported "several lifeless bodies ," the prosecution said in a statement. It is currently unclear who they were fighting with.

According to a statement, the deceased are linked to the Los Rojos criminal cell led by Zenen Nava Sánchez. In the area, the experts carried out the corresponding procedures, collecting 50 percussive caps caliber 7.62 and 2.23 which would have been used with the weapons known as AK47 and AR-15 , respectively.

The confrontation occurred at the point known as La Cribadora of the Zitlala – Pochahuizco road, where police collected about 50 caps of various weapons allegedly used by criminals during this armed clash. 

At least nine people close to the leader of the criminal group of "Los Rojos" died on Wednesday in a confrontation with a rival group in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero , the state attorney general's office reported.

"The dead people are close to Zenen Nava Sánchez, leader of " Los Rojos ", a drug cartel that has as its base the Mexican city of Chilpancingo, capital of Guerrero, the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.

The Ministry of Public Security of the State and the Prosecutor's Office have arranged a joint operation to try to locate the persons responsible for these murders, in addition to opening an investigation folder by the ministerial authorities.

The place where the bodies were found has been under the protection of the State Police in order to carry out the investigation, the proceedings have already begun.

The State Police and the State Attorney General's Office have already transferred the nine bodies to the Forensic Medical Service to do the law autopsy.

On October 15, a group of armed civilians attacked an Army patrol, which responded to the aggression, so a confrontation broke out that left 15 dead , one of them a soldier who died while he was treated for the wounds.

The bodies will be transferred to the Forensic Medical Service of the state capital to practice the corresponding law autopsy. The Ministry of Public Security of the State and ministerial agents of the State Attorney General's Office began a joint operation to find those responsible for these events . 

The drug trafficking map in Mexico is never stable. It is in constant recomposition: sometimes silence, sometimes thunderous . The "Los Rojos" criminal cell is part of the latest waves of change.

This criminal organization, which operates with special force in Guerrero, Morelos and Puebla, is said to be behind much the violence to the west of the country.

This has put "Los Rojos", which some consider as a "mini cartel", in the center of Mexican attention.

Reports indicate that the criminal gang started by the hand of former Beltrán Leyva gunman, Crisoforo Rogelio Maldonado, who was shot down in 2012 at a hospital in Mexico City.

Although "Los Rojos" have established themselves as an emblematic criminal gang, they still do not have the name or connections in South America, so they are based more on extortion and kidnapping than drug trafficking, thus becoming a direct threat for the civilian population.