AMLO Promises to Seize Drug Trafficking Territories Including Aguililla

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The government intends to dispute the territory with the drug traffickers, although it has not been successful in two and a half years of efforts to reduce violence.

The administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) will try to seize drug-dominated territory such as Aguililla, Michoacán, the birthplace of the leader of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho."

During the Second Session of Understanding for the Promotion of the Culture of Peace and the Reconstruction of the Social Fabric, headed by the Secretary of the Interior (Segob), Olga Sánchez Cordero, the AMLO government promised that it will recover the spaces flagrantly taken over by organized crime. The official assured that six of the most violent municipalities are already being served with strategies to rebuild the social fabric. They are Mexicali, Baja California; Tapachula, Chiapas; Ecatepec, State of Mexico; Acapulco, Guerrero; Monterrey, Nuevo Leon; and Benito Juárez, Quintana Roo.

Sánchez Cordero highlighted that in these demarcations there are lessons learned how to incorporate the demands of the population, generate empathy with community organizations, and include those who know first-hand the needs of the colonies, neighborhoods, and towns. Rabindranath Salazar Solorio, Undersecretary for Democratic Development, Social Participation and Religious Affairs, announced that a project to rebuild the social fabric will also be implemented in Aguililla to accompany the actions undertaken by the Secretariat for Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), the agency in charge of establishing the route for the care of this region.

Aguililla has experienced a violent wave in the last two years, corresponding to Lopez Obrador's six-year term, as the CJNG launched a territorial dispute from that point in Michoacán against local factions that were previously its allies. Currently, the municipality has already been dominated by the hosts of Mencho, as it also represents the area where the leader of the best-armed and most dangerous cartel in Mexico, the CJNG, was born.

The residents of Aguililla have been caught up in the drug war, where enemies of the so-called four-letter cartel destroy roads, cut off communications, and affect the electricity grid. All in order to attack the rival area, but the consequences are for the rest of the inhabitants. Hence, the Aguilillenses have demonstrated to the point of despair, even attacking the military base in the municipal seat, as they demand that the soldiers reestablish the conditions of peace and confront the criminals. But the military is ordered not to confront organized crime and remain passive, sheltered.

On July 10, the SSPC and the Ministry of Culture reported on events in Apatzingan to strengthen social cohesion and promote community participation in the territory and thus prevent violence and crime in high-risk areas. This municipality is part of the Michoacan Tierra Caliente that is disputed by the CJNG and local factions grouped in the United Cartels. One day before the cultural event, the Mexican president instructed Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the SSPC, to head a special care plan in the cradle of El Mencho. However, the negotiating tables have not made any major progress. The project aims to reinforce wellness programs.

Although there are no more confrontations in Aguililla, prior to the establishment of the CJNG there was a process of forced displacement, collection of fees from the population, and shootings until the wee hours of the morning. In addition, the organization led by Oseguera Cervantes also demonstrated its ability to defy the State on October 14, 2019, when 14 elements of the Michoacán Police were killed. Several patrols were set on fire as if it were a war field. State agents were attacked while conducting a surveillance operation. And more recently, on May 14 of this year, two infantrymen were killed following an ambush against the CJNG.

El Mencho accuses the National Guard and Army of supporting El Abuelo.

In its narrative, the transnational crime organization accuses that federal forces such as the National Guard and the Army support their rivals of the United Cartels, for which this week they threatened to attack these corporations if they continue with the alleged collaboration, favoring the leader of the Tepalcatepec Cartel, Juan José Álvarez Farías, the El Abuelo, Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Aguilar, alias El Kiro and Hipólito Mora.

As part of the agreements of this July 20 in Segob, constant training of public servants will be maintained in matters of the culture of peace and reconstruction of the social fabric throughout the country, the gender, and youth perspective will be ensured, as well as care for indigenous peoples and the relevance of adding new service municipalities and specific projects in areas such as Juan Bautista, Tuxtepec, Oaxaca will be considered.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Office of the President; the SSPC, as well as the secretariats of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), Welfare, Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), Economy, Agriculture and Rural Development, Communications and Transportation (SCT), Public Education (SEP), Health, Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu), Culture, and Tourism.

Also from the National Institutes of Women (Inmujeres), the National Institute of Social Economy (Inaes), the Indigenous Peoples (INPI), and Social Development (indesol), as well as the Mexican Institute of Youth (Imjuve); and the National System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF).

With all this deployment, the Lopezobradorista government intends to dispute the territory with the drug traffickers, although it has not been successful in two and a half years of efforts to reduce violence. Aguililla is now one more test.

Source: Infobae