Two deadly attacks on the police and army are a challenge for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has made the reduction of organized crime violence one of his main campaign promises.
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After two organized crime attacks against law enforcement, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ("AMLO") on Wednesday (October 16th) called the drug cartels Throw down the weapons ". These successive aggressions made, Monday and Tuesday, about thirty dead in the south-west of Mexico. What sowing doubt about the security strategy AMLO, which focuses on prevention rather than the balance of power against organized crime.
Two deadly ambushes in two days
Five police patrols fell on Monday, October 14, in an ambush near the town of Aguililla, in the state of Michoacan, a region of drug production and very profitable lawyers, coveted by several cartels. Forty-two policemen, who had gone to the scene after an emergency call, were targeted by about 30 large-caliber armed killers, killing 13 people and injuring nine policemen.
The attack, signed by the powerful "new generation" Jalisco cartel (CJNG), was quickly interpreted by many Mexican newspapers as an "affront" to the government. " The message to Aguililla confirms that the state does not control large areas of the country controlled by criminal groups ", Warns the left-wing daily, The Jornada, in his editorial, dated Wednesday.
Especially since the day of the ambush, at the same time, AMLO had gathered before the press its ministers of defense, public security and the interior, to present the progress of its fight against insecurity. The bloodshed came as Alfonso Durazo, Minister of Public Security, announced a 0.4% drop in homicides between January and August (23,063 deaths) compared to the same period last year.
" Not enough to brag Nevertheless acknowledged the minister in the face of a carnage that struggles to distance himself from the 2018 kill record (33,749 killed). A precaution as a sign of ill omen: the next day, a second shootout between soldiers and the killers of another cartel had 15 deaths in the state of Guerrero, near Michoacan. Guerreros Unidos gang members opened fire on a convoy of soldiers. This time, the attackers were all killed by the soldiers, who nevertheless lost one of their own.
