By The opinion
01 Mar 2024, 11:30 AM EST
The war that the Mexican authorities wage against the drug cartels claims more victims every day, and the state of Michoacán is one of the regions where the most attacks on police officers and members of the Armed Forces are recorded.
The most recent case was one of the deadliest attacks, leaving a death toll of four soldiers dead and nine others injured. The incident occurred on a dirt road that connects the municipalities of Coalcomán and Tepalcatepec, in the mountainous region of Michoacán.
According to the first reports, it was an ambush by organized crime on a military convoy, in which land mines and later explosives launched from drones were used, a terrorist technique increasingly used by Mexican cartels.
According to local media such as the weekly Proceso, The military convoy was traveling along a rural road when several mines exploded in its path. Later, a group of hitmen fired with high-powered weapons, supported by drones loaded with explosives.
Although the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) sent reinforcements to the area to try to locate and arrest those responsible for the attack, the attackers managed to escape.
Three soldiers died at the scene and one more died while being treated at the hospital. Furthermore, it was reported that several of the wounded soldiers are in critical condition.
What did López Obrador say after the ambush?
During his morning press conference, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, referred to the attack in Michoacán, stating: “This is what the Army, Navy and National Guard have to face.”.
When asked about the details of this attack, the president explained that the military received information about a drug camp and moved to the place.
“They went to the camp, as far as they could go, they did it in vehicles, then they walked, but on the way back they did not take the same path, but another, and there, in the undergrowth, was a trap, an explosive. Because of that explosion, a soldier died right there, and then they treated the wounded, but they couldn’t save them,” he said.
Finally, López Obrador stated that these were regrettable events and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
It should be noted that several drug cartels operate in Michoacán that maintain a bloody war in the entity, among which the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, The Knights Templar and Tepalcatepec Cartel.
Keep reading:
– Mexican Army seizes more than 130 explosives that drug traffickers use to launch from drones.
– “We saw how the bullets went through”: Mexican ex-policeman remembers one of the most violent attacks by the CJNG.
– This was the brutal CJNG ambush with monster trucks that left 3 soldiers dead.