Mexico's Security Chief Harfuch Quietly Formed UNO, an Elite Federal Police Force to Take on Cartels

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Six years ago Mexico’s president disbanded the country’s Federal Police and handed security responsibilities fully to the military. Now, his successor has quietly begun to build an elite civilian investigative and special operations force to fight the drug cartels.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had already shown a willingness early in her presidency to move away from former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s oft-criticized “hugs, not bullets” strategy. It focused on addressing the social roots of crime rather than directly confronting Mexico’s powerful cartels.

Sheinbaum's security chief, Omar García Harfuch, is drawing on his law enforcement contacts — mostly from the former ranks of the Federal Police — to claw back security capabilities from the armed forces with a civilian force under his direct command.

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Mexican Policia Federal Abandons La Laguna

By Chris Covert

Rantburg.com

In an unusual speculative Sunday morning report, El Diario de Coahuila news daily reported that Policia Federal (PF) units have abandoned the La Laguna region.

La Laguna region encompasses the cities of Torreon, Coahuila and Ciudad Lerdo and Gomez Palacio, Durango, where since October 2011, a major security operation -- dubbed Segura Laguna -- has been underway including Mexican Army PF units, Coahuila and Durango state police and local police in a comprehensive plan to tamp down on cartel violence in the region.

According to the report, Policia Federal Preventativa (PFP) patrol units have not been seen in the region for at least two days prompting speculation PF units have been ordered to leave La Laguna. The report cites recent violence, the latest of which was the discovery of three dead in Gomez Palacio, Durango three days ago and the murder of the Saltillo, Coahuila police chief -- the second such murder in as many months.

The report also charges PF agents with adding to the problems of violence.

Other violent incidents have taken place as well, but in Saltillo mainly involving Los Zetas cartel operatives. Those confrontations have included firefights between Los Zetas and federal and state security forces, as well as intergang fighting.

Los Zetas maintain a presence, if weakened, in neighboring Zacatecas state, that despite an increase in deployment of Mexican Army troops to that state.

A month ago, a senior commander, General Marco Antonio Gonzalez Barreda was replaced by another field commander, General de Division Roberto de la Vega Diaz, who was assigned as commander of the Mexican IX Military Region, based in Saltillo. That command encompasses Coahuila and Chihuahua states, including the La Laguna region.

The rotating of Mexican Army field commanders is not ordinarily done, because commanders tend to remain at their posts until their mission is complete, or if a sharp reverse has taken place. The ongoing violence in Saltillo prior to the January 18th, 2012 rotation may have been as much a factor in the decision to replace General Gonzalez Barreda, as recent violence in the same time frame in Chilipancingo, Guerrero, where General de la Vega came from.

A total of 4,000 federal and state effectives have been deployed to the region so far.

Last May, 2011 1,500 Mexican Army troops and another 300 PF troops were sent to Coahuila. Last September, 2011, additional troops were deployed to the La Laguna region, in apparent anticipation of start of the Segura Laguna security operations.

Late in December, 2011, parts of the Mexican 15th Motorized Cavalry Regiment were deployed to Saltillo, Coahuila after a two day road march to reinforce security efforts in northern Coahuila, including Piedra Negras. Those troops were earmarked to participate in the ongoing security operations in Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon states

This latest report is surprising in light of President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's remarks in Juarez last Friday when he credited the presence of federal security forces including PF operatives with reducing the violence in that border city.

Chris Covert writes Mexican drug war and national political news for Rantburg.com

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Shots fired from Juárez hit El Paso City Hall

By Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times

Police said the bullet flew through the window, then through an interior wall before hitting a picture frame and stopping.

El Paso, Texas - Several gunshots apparently fired from Juárez hit El Paso City Hall on Tuesday afternoon.

No one was hurt, but nerves were rattled at City Hall in what is thought to be the first cross-border gunfire during a drug war that has engulfed Juárez since 2008.

El Paso police spokesman Darrel Petry said investigators do not think City Hall was intentionally targeted but rather was struck by stray shots.

"It does appear the rounds may have come from an incident in Juárez," Petry said.
City Hall, whose east and west sides are covered by glass windows, sits on a hill about a half-mile north of the Rio Grande.


About 4:50 p.m., city workers were going about a regular day when a bullet penetrated a ninth-floor west side window of the office of Assistant City Manager Pat Adauto.

The building was not evacuated, but several secretaries with windows facing Juárez described the incident as scary. Several police officers were sent to City Hall. A police crime scene investigator could be seen taking photos of the building.

Petry said an inspection by police and city staff found that City Hall was hit by seven gunshots, which appeared to be losing velocity when they struck. Six of the rounds hit stucco walls on the north and south sides of the building. Two bullets were recovered -- the one that went through the window and one that bounced off an exterior wall. The size of the bullets was not disclosed.

"Any time somebody takes a shot at City Hall, it's of great concern to us," El Paso Mayor John Cook said. "It's OK if people take political shots at us, but this is unacceptable."

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3 Federal Investigators Killed, 1 Wounded

Chihuahua, Chihuahua - June 14, 2010 - Gunmen attack federal police officers in the state capital, killing three and wounding one.

Around 2:30 pm on Monday afternoon, four plain-clothes officers with the Agencia Federal de Investigaciones (Mexico's equivalent of the FBI) were investigating drug trafficking in the state capital, Chihuahua City. They were driving along Avenida Juan Escutia in a silver Chevrolet sedan when they were attacked by gunmen in two vehicles.

The officers initially evaded their attackers and a five-minute running gun battle ensued across the north part of the city. The gunmen finally managed to corner the officers on Avenida Heroico Colegio Militar near the intersection of Calle 19 de Julio. Under a hail of gunfire, three of the AFI officers are killed and one was left seriously wounded.

The gunmen abandoned one of their vehicles at the scene, a gray Chevrolet Silverado pickup. Their other vehicle, a white Chevrolet Trail Blazer was found abandoned a few blocks away near the intersection of Calles Popular and Monte Orizaba. Witnesses there said the gunmen were picked up by compatriots in a gray Chevrolet Suburban and escaped. Tactical equipment & masks were found in the abandoned Trail Blazer.

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At Least 6 Police Killed in Juarez

6 Mexican police officers killed in Ciudad Juarez.

Mexican federal officials said six law enforcement officers were killed today in the intersection of Santiago Troncoso and Durango in south Juarez.

Gunmen ambushed two police vehicles at busy intersection in Ciudad Juarez on Friday, killing six officers and a 17-year-old girl who was passing by, authorities said.

Chihuahua state spokesman Enrique Torres Valadez said five of the six police officers were federal, and one was municipal. Authorities said the police officers in the vehicles were distracted by someone selling items on the street when the gunmen opened fire. The assailants then fled in three vehicles.

Members of the Federal Police cover the corpse of a policeman killed by drug traffickers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on April 23. Six police officers and a civilian were killed in a shootout in Mexico's most violent city, on the border with the United States, according to a local police officer.

Initial reports from Ciudad Juárez were that the slain officers had simply been performing their jobs.

They were ambushed by many gunmen in an attack that investigators said might have been a response to an operation the previous day, in which the federal police detained eight people in a stolen vehicle with automatic weapons, cocaine and marijuana.

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2,000 More Federal Police To Juarez

Ciudad Juarez, chih - An increased force of federal police conducted road blocks in Juarez checking vehicles without license plates and vehicles with dark tinted windows, this while searching for drug cartel members.

I just like the bike!

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Life of the Mexican Federal Police

The daily life of the forces of the federal police in Mexico.

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