At Least a Hundred Armed Men Assault Journalists in Guerrero

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from La Jornada

Seven Journalists were stripped of their equipment, money and a vehicle as they attempted to cover the events over the weekend in San Miguel Totolapan, Guerrero.

Seven local, national and international media journalists were intercepted yesterday afternoon at a checkpoint on the Iguala-Ciudad Altamirano road, at the height of this municipality, in northern Guerrero, by some 100 armed and hooded civilians. They were beaten and stripped of their work equipment and belongings. The gunmen threatened to burn their equipment and vehicles if they did not cooperate. They were later transported to Iguala for medical attention by a patrol of Federal Forces.

Sergio Ocampo, correspondent of La Jornada in Guerrero; Jair Cabrera, graphic reporter and collaborator of this publishing house; Hans Máximo Musielik, of Vice News; Pablo Pérez García, of Hispano Post; Jorge Martinez, of the agency Quadratín; Angel Galeana, from Imagen TV, and Alejandro Ortiz, from Bajo Palabra newspaper, were held for 15 minutes by visibly drugged subjects.

The gunmen, allegedly belonging to the criminal organization La Familia Michoacana, stripped reporters of their belongings, computer equipment, photo and video cameras, cell phones, cash, and a Jeep Patriot owned by Sergio Ocampo, together valued at about one million pesos.

Hans Máximo was quoted as saying that one of the armed civilians, stabbed him with a pistol in his head, and warned him: "If we see that you stop at the checkpoint and say what happened to you we are going to eat you alive. We have our hawks watching.

Approximately one kilometer away, the Mexican Army had a revision checkpoint before entering the Tierra Caliente region of Guerrero.

The group of journalists had moved to the area yesterday to cover the events that took place since Friday in the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan, where military and state forces took control of security.

Hundreds of people, led by members of the Movement for Peace, tried to block the Military's entrance to their community by setting up some barricades. Following the arrival of soldiers and state agents in at least seven of the nine municipalities that make up the Tierra Caliente region, there were reports of at least 14 road blocks, several made by transporters and 20 vehicles set on fire.

In this area that includes the municipalities of Arcelia, San Miguel Totolapan, Tlapehuala, and Ajuchitlán del Progreso, the criminal groups of Los Tequileros Familia Michoacana< dispute for the control of drug trafficking routes. The constant clashes between these criminal organizations keep the region ravaged by violence.

Around 7:30 am, the journalists arrived in the municipality of San Miguel Tololapan in two vehicles and later, when arriving at a point known as Palos Altos, in the municipality of Arcelia, they left the two vehicles in the parking lot of a restaurant.From there they moved on foot to various points located on the federal highway between Iguala-Ciudad Altamirano, a stretch of about 15 kilometers.

Because the state riot police were deactivating the blockades installed mainly by the transporters, the journalists agreed that two of their companions would move to Palos Altos, anticipating that there could be violent confrontations between the operatives of the authority and the community activists.

At around 4 pm in the afternoon the seven reporters went to lunch at one of the restaurants located near the Vicente Guerrero Dam, in the municipality of Arcelia, and an hour later they left for Iguala.

On the way they passed by another military checkpoint and then headed towards the crossroad that goes to the municipality of Acapetlahuaya, but around 6 pm they encountered a blockade made with stones and sticks, guarded by about 100 armed civilians who shouted at them and forced them to get out of the two vehicles, a Jeep Liberty and a Patriot.

Immediately a group of young people, including a minor of about 13 years, began to strip them of their belongings, and another subject, apparently the head of the blockade asked for the keys to the vehicles.

The seven journalists were taken to an alley, where there were houses , while the armed group pulled out computers, cameras and other equipment from the vehicles and others called for the journalists' portfolios.

After about 15 minutes, another of the leaders of the armed civilians finally warned them that one of the vehicles would be kept. Faced with the complaints of the journalists, he said: “if you do not leave, we are going to take both vehicles and we will screw with you. The journalists chose to retire in one vehicle and they  left.

On Friday morning, approximately 500 soldiers of the Mexican Army, the State Riot  Police and Ministerial Police arrived in the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan with the purpose of carrying out an operation that would lead to the capture of the leaders of the indicated criminal groups, whose clashes keep the region devastated.

About a thousand people, led by members of the so called self-defense group, the Movement for Peace, created last December to confront the criminal gangs involved in the disputed drug trafficking routes, attempted to prevent all security forces from passing through. The so called self defense group backed off and the security forces finally reached the center of the town.

So far this year, more than 700 murders allegedly related to organized crime have been committed in Guerrero, a large part of which are in Tierra Caliente towns and surrounding areas where there are vast tracts of poppy and marijuana fields.