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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Mexican 42nd Military Zone gets new commander

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

The new commander of the Mexican 42nd Military Zone said last week that the Mexican Army will permanently be deployed to the sierras to fight drug trafficking and cultivation, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to a news account which appeared last week in Norte Digital news website, General de Brigada Ricardo Diaz Palacio attended a drug incinerating ceremony in Cuauhtemoc municipality, attended also by Chihuahua state governor Cesar Duarte Jaquez.

According to reports, General Diaz Palacio took over command of the Mexican 42nd Military Zone July 1st, which is a normal date for command shuffling in the Mexican Army, after having been commander of the 29th Military Zone in Minatitlan, Veracruz in 2011 just before he received his second star, thru 2012.  He had been intelligence chief in the Matamoros army garrison in Tamaulipas before being assigned to the 29th Military Zone  As a Brigadier General he was also chief of operations for the Mexican Army general staff in 2008.

General Diaz Palacio takes over command of the 42nd Military from General General Miguel Andrade Cisneros, who was appointed as commander last December.

The July 1st date in this context means that new appointments to military regions and zones are the first under the new Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), so actions taken by the army after this date will could set the tone for the army for the rest of the term of newly inaugurated president Enrique Pena.

General Diaz Palacio's remarks about a permanent army deployment mirror remarks made by other army commanders, including the statement that the Mexican Army "works alone" and in coordination with state and local security forces.  The remarks about permanent army deployments seem to reverse a campaign promise made by President Pena about the military being sent to the barracks as a measure to reduce violence.

Indeed in remarks he made while he was in Mexico City on SEDENA's general staff in 2008, he discounted the charge long made by the Mexican left that the presence of the army in a region increases violence in the region

Violence in southern Chihuahua state, part of Mexico's Triangulo Dorada or Golden Triangle has seen a sharp increase since the end of spring.  One of the worst problems in Guadalupe y Calvo municipality has been that of criminal groups forming road blocks, especially between Guadalupe y Calvo municipal seat and Parral de Hidalgo.  At least two ambushes involving armed criminals against civilians have taken place in just the last 45 days along that stretch of road.

According to a news account which appeared last week in El Diario de Juarez, at least four roadblocks have been reported by armed groups on the road between the two municipalities, specifically near Mesa de San Rafael, despite an increase in the numbers of federal security forces in the region.  Criminal groups at those blocks are allowing only the elderly, women and children through, which indicates those groups may be using the roadblock for recruiting purposes for men.

The fear of roadblocks in the area is so acute, according to a separate news account which appeared in El Diario de Juarez, an air service had been established between the two points for passengers only.  Also bus drivers are refusing to take on any male passengers because of recruiting efforts in the region.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com

14 comments:

  1. The army should get a tanks in la sierra and bomb the fuckin sicarios doesn't matter if they roll up with 50 trucks there no match against a tank and some bombers too destroy all there fuckin ranches or houses deep inside the sierra

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  2. I think the CDS and CDG should Combat The sierra military because if they don't they're going to loose about 50.% of their profit..Ariba Carteles Unidos

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  3. I think tanks are a bad idea so many fuckin sicarios they'll probably get the doods off and keep them for retaliation..

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  4. You will excuse me Ladies and Gentlemen for the rest of us not in the Americas, is this a big deal? Is the new Chief going to help improve security and all? Is it big news?

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    1. it is information related with this blog, what were you expecting? another video of people getting decapitaded?

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    2. 11:49. He's just asking...what's new. No difference if new commander or new video. Never changes anything anyway.

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  5. When will La Tuta & his bunch of meth head cronies be weeded out by the army? OR is he protected by his Sinaloa connection? Hopefully Z40 is given the electric chair.

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  6. Si andale van andar con un tanke en la sierra

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  7. Air power is the answer to combatting roadblocks and criminal convoys. The bad guys post halcones at each end of a road and attack civilians in the middle. The halcones will warn the bad guys if any security forces roll towards the area.. Aircraft can cut cross country and surprise the bad guys with surveillance or attacks. Deployed from a distant airfield and the bad guys can not use counter surveillance to report army movements. Ground troops of BG's that are foolish enough to envisage aircraft will die. Z-40 knew this.

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  8. Some areas can not be accessed truck yet alone a tank.

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    1. Fyi tanks are all terrain there made to go to.harsh places like the sierra y u think tanks don't have tires? For better traction

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  9. @July 22, 2013 at 12:04 AM How come cds loosing 50% profit? El Chapo paid already the military, so no worry about CHapo business even the check point army assign already paid and some of this army is to combat the cds rival. That's why cds remain strong using billions of money and their influence.

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  10. So when is chapo's face going to be shown behind bars...oh the mexican government is working for him..they are clearing tamaulipas for him..

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  11. No difference if new commander or new video. Never changes anything anyway.

    Mexico is still a republic, still an ally of the US, so what happens in Mexico, on our southern border matters.

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