Guadalajara -
The Enrique Pena Nieto administration is intensely focused on incipient security challenges in Jalisco and Baja California, and is "very worried about the deteriorating situation in both states," according to Mexican journalist Carlos Loret de Mola.
Loret de Mola, a respected columnist for Mexico City's El Universal, called Jalisco and Baja California the two new decomposing states, citing sources at "the highest level" in a piece published yesterday.
"For the federal government there are two new states on red alert. A gradual breakdown has been detected in both, which affects their security and therefore their governability," he wrote.
In the case of Jalisco, Loret attributed official concern to the presence of the powerful Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), a/k/a the Matazetas ("Zeta Killers"). "Based upon the government intelligence to which I have had access, day by day they're becoming the richest and most powerful."
Given "their production of methamphetamine and marijuana, their transportation of cocaine from South America and their business of kidnapping, they've far outdone their competitors in profits," wrote Loret. "In the world of organized crime, (CJNG) is now the nation's principal security threat."
The Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación has a strong presence in and around Guadalajara, where it has been accused of a assassinating a prominent state politician and carrying out mass executions just beyond the capital's city limits. On Jan. 30 the U.S. Consulate here warned American citizens about possible street violence following the arrest of a top CJNG official in Zapopan. Federals capture key Matazeta operative in suburban Guadalajara. Other recent stories are below.
Loret contends that CJNG has profited from the near dissolution of its arch-enemy, Los Caballeros Templarios, in neighboring Michoacán. But the PRI government is concerned that the rising power of the Jalisco cartel could precipitate an outbreak of violence in this state, as the organization seeks to eliminate smaller local competitors, according to the journalist. That's why Jalisco was one of only five states where the first units of Mexico's new Gendarmería Nacional were dispatched on Aug. 30, days after the special paramilitary unit premiered. Gendarmes deploy in Jalisco.
Another of those five states was Baja California, where a power vacuum was created by the capture of Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquín Guzmán in February, according to Loret. "Tijuana was (Guzmán's) store, his territory," he wrote.
Updated Sept. 23 - More than 60 government officials in Jalisco have been murdered in the last 18 months, according to this report published today by a national media source. Jalisco is in the hands of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Its governor is Aristóteles Sandoval, who has presidential aspirations.
Sept. 23- Jalisco federal deputy kidnapped in Guadalajara is found murdered
Sept. 24 - Jalisco's chief prosecutor ordered to appear before state Congress, to explain downward spiraling security
Sept. 26 - Mexico's angry Chamber of Deputies demands results in Gabriel Gómez investigation
Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación
2014
Aug. 5 - Jalisco prosecutor: Matazetas are responsible for murder of Guadalajara area mayor
June 2 - Jalisco tourism boss was assassinated on orders of Los Matazetas
May 16 - Federal prosecutor: more bodies in narco grave site on Lake Chapala outskirts
May 13 - Matazetas ambush, kill four Mexican soldiers in Jalisco
Apt. 27 - "Zeta Killer" boss arrested in Puerto Vallarta
Feb. 21 - Jalisco prosecutor reports narco grave near Guadalajara-Chapala highway
Jan. 31 - Mexican prosecutor: Jalisco drug cartel armed Michoacán autodefensas
Jan. 30 - Federals capture key Matazeta operative in suburban Guadalajara
Jan. 26 - 20 Michoacán police officers charged as "Zeta Killers"
2013
Dec. 6 - Body count continues at newly discovered narco burial site in Guadalajara outskirts
Nov. 16 - Mass grave by Jalisco's Lake Chapala held 74 remains
Oct. 11 - "Zeta killers" behind gun battle which left three Jalisco police officers dead
May 14 - Drug cartels behind three recent Guadalajara attacks
Apr. 23 - Guadalajara's mayor: "I'm worried about security"
2012
June 22 - "Dire prognosis for Mexico's next government, with violence threatening Guadalajara"
Mar. 9 - Narco terror in metropolitan Guadalajara
© MGR 2014. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment