CDN: The multiple Coahuila attacks in November and December was to cause terror, Villa Union death tally 26

Chivis Martinez Borderland BeatReforma

Members of the criminal group that carried out the armed aggression in Villa Unión, who managed to escape after confronting police and military, are responsible for the attacks of December 24 and 25 in Piedras Negras and Frontera , said yesterday Gerardo Márquez Guevara, State Attorney General.

Authorities identified as members of the Northeast Cartel (CDN) who on November 30 stormed into the municipal seat of Villa Unión, estimating that at least 100 criminals participated aboard more than 25 armored and artillery vehicles.

Márquez said yesterday that the death toll from Villa Unión rose to 26 (20 hitmen, four state police and two civilians) after the body of another gunman was credited in the limits with Nuevo León.

He also reported the arrest of 36 suspected criminals for these events.

According to the number of those killed and detained, there would be around 50 members of the criminal group who managed to flee.

"We are still working on the investigation because finally there are other events in which they are directly related to this event of Villa Unión, on the 24th in Piedras Negras a police element was murdered, of Municipal Public Security and the arrest of those responsible was achieved.” he said in an interview.

"They are totally linked to the Villa Unión event or managed to escape or are related in follow-up to the action that the State undertook on November 30, people who came, people who stayed, people who managed to escape."

Guevara recalled that on the borders of Frontera and Monclova, on December 25, an armed aggression was carried out on municipal troops, leaving an element injured, but that two of those responsible were arrested.

"There were also arrests and it is also related to that event, related to reports, with messages, that is, they are part of the same criminal group," he said.

"It is not revenge, it has always been the intention of assaulting the authority to frighten (the) population."

Although they are already linked to the crime of kidnapping, 10 of the alleged participants in the attack on Villa Unión are integrated with the investigation in other crimes and for the commission of other crimes, the Prosecutor said.

"These 10 were the ones who directly participated in this event, but we stopped on that day and the next three days, but for related crimes such as criminal facilitation or “halconeo” which were precisely those that gave information on movements of the police corporations and some for drug trafficking, all of them were prosecuted and also linked to the process.”