Shootout In Guerrero: 3 Dead, 6 Wounded

Members of the UPOEG confronted members of Los Villalobos

Photo By: Ezequiel Flores

By: Ezequiel Flores Contreras | Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat

Polixtepec, Guerrero (Proceso)— At least three dead and six wounded was the end result from a shootout that occurred on November 6 in the mountain community located in the municipality of Leonardo Bravo, an area regarded as the main area of the production of narcotics in Guerrero.

The incident occurred around 13:00 hours on Friday when a group of at least 100 autodefensa members of the Union of People and Organizations of Guerrero (UPOEG) stormed into this small community where an armed group led by the brothers Ángel and Efraín Villalobos operate in.

This happened because a few days ago, Joaquín Romero Ríos, the commissioner of Polixtepec, was ambushed and murdered as he was driving along a dirt road that goes from Puentecillas to Polixtepec.  Residents from the sierra decided to close the road that connects the center region to this stretch of land in order to demand security in the face of the brutal wave of violence that they live through.

According to the version of the commanders of the community police of UPOEG, the group of Villalobos had sown terror in place and threatened the rest of the population to join them or, otherwise, they would kill the authorities and residents of the surrounding communities.

That is why members of the UPOEG stormed into the community where they were received with bullets.  In the fray, three men from the group of Los Villalobos, who were onboard a truck, were killed, while six from the autodefensas were wounded.

The three who died during the shootout
Photo By: Ezequiel Flores

After nearly eight hours of confrontation, members of the UPOEG took control of the location which looks like a ghost town this weekend, among fear and anxiety, because the group of Los Villalobos retreated into the hills.

The people fear that the Los Villalobos will provoke a second armed clash.

The members of the UPOEG raided the Villalobos’ houses where they found evidence of processing poppy to make heroin, which is one of the main activities in the mountains.

So far, no authority has come to the location, and the army, as well as the state police, remain in the village of Filo de Caballos, located 40 minutes from Polixtepec.

For the past four days, the commissioners of the sierra made a call to the authorities of the three levels of government and to the army to be present in the area that has become a no man’s land because of the dispute between armed groups for control and the transfer of narcotics.

The commissioner of the mountain town of Polixtepec, Joaquín Romero Ríos, and his secretary, were ambushed Wednesday night on a dirt road in the municipality of Leonardo Bravo. 

The assassination occurred just meters from a military detachment that keeps the Mexican Army on the stretch of road of Puentecillas-Polixtepec.

Source: Excelsior, Proceso

Categories: Autodefensas, Drug War, guerrero, mexico