State of Mexico/Villa Victoria: Policeman and his Minor Sons Shot Dead in Ambush

Oaxaqueno for Borderland Beat

A week ago on Sunday afternoon, a member of the Investigative Police of the Attorney General of Justice of the State of Mexico (FGJEM) was shot dead in his car in the vicinity of the community of Yebucivi. The community is situated in the municipality of Villa Victoria, located some 40 kilometers northwest of Toluca. Reportedly, the 30-years-old victim was riding in his car with his two minor sons while being ambushed by gunmen. The children, aged seven and four (or six and three according to another source) were injured in the attack. Consequently, they were transferred to a children’s hospital where they succumbed to their wounds shortly after their arrival.

Background / Oaxaqueño Analysis:

The killed investigative policeman (PDI), who was in his seventh year of service for the State Attorney’s Office, was deployed in Villa Victoria. A day after the incident, on Monday morning before 11:00 hrs, another attack on five PDI forces took place about 75 kilometers south of Villa Victoria. The incident happened in Ixtapan de la Sal, also located in the State of Mexico in close proximity to the states of Morelos and Guerrero. While eating in a local food vendor shop, a pick-up truck stopped in front of the building and armed subjects opened fire on the policemen from inside the car. Apparently, none of the policemen were killed in the attack. However, they were reportedly injured, with two of them being in serious condition.

It can be assumed that the criminal group being responsible for both attacks is La Familia Michoacana (LFM). Early on the 7th of July, several mantas were hung by LFM in different parts of the Valle de Toluca, namely in Toluca, Zinacantepec, Xonacatlán, Otzolotepec, Temoaya, and Metepec. In the mantas, LFM declared war against FGJEM, also pointing out that they are not against other security branches but only against FGJEM though (this is a known pattern in LFM mantas). Just a day earlier on Monday 6th of July, another suspected LFM assault against a security forces convoy, consisting among others of FGJEM elements, took place in the municipality of San Simón de Guerrero, some 50 kilometers south of Villa Victoria. None of the security forces were notably injured, however, after reportedly receiving backup, two attackers could be arrested.

The mantas and the recent assaults against FGJEM forces can be seen as acts of retaliation at the hands of LFM which has been subject to a number of security operations in the previous months. Most prominently in recent time, on June 11th, the arrest of José Dámaso Ulquizar, aka "El 47" was reported. The detainee, who was arrested alongside two other subjects in Amatepec, was the local LFM leader said to be in charge of southern State of Mexico. Furthermore, he is made responsible for a number of capital crimes. The most prominent of these took place in October 2018, when four state police officers were killed in an ambush in Almoloya de Alquisiras. The incident gained notoriety due to the fact that the LFM sicarios filmed themselves ahead of the ambush as well as the actual ambush itself.

Despite the increased number of arrests and violent incidents in recent time, it needs to be highlighted that the feud between LFM and the FGJEM has been going on for years now. This has made particularly the southern part of the State of Mexico, bordering Michoacán, Guerrero and Morelos, to a hotbed of criminally driven violence. The prime leadership of LFM, whose stronghold has mainly shifted from Michoacán to the State of Mexico, is on FGJEM’s most wanted list and therefore remain prime targets. Against this background and the currently heightened tensions, further security operations against LFM, as well as targeted attacks and ambushes by LFM against ministerial agents, have to be expected in the region in the near future.

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