By The Opinion
06 Sep 2024, 17:25 PM EDT
He Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is spreading its tentacles in a surprising way and has now invaded Guatemala, despite the fact that the authorities of that country have taken many precautions to prevent drug traffickers from crossing their border with Mexico and beginning to invade their territory.
Armed civilians set up a roadblock in a town in Huehuetenango, prompting the Guatemalan Army to reinforce surveillance in several municipalities, and a unit from the Mountain Operations Base was sent to the area to neutralize any criminal activity.
Authorities were on alert before, due to the growing wave of violence that Mexico is suffering, which has caused the exodus of hundreds of inhabitants seeking refuge in Guatemala.
There are currently 600 migrants in the department of Huehuetenango, all of them from various border municipalities in Chiapas.
Huehuetenango is located 108 kilometers from Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, a municipality that suffers from the dispute over its territories by the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel.
Pre-raid
In this regard, the newspaper Milenio points out that, almost a year ago, on September 25, 2023, a circular from the Huehuetenango police warned that the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel intended to: “Enter Guatemalan territory through the border with Mexico. Currently, it intends to invade Nentón, Santa Ana Huista, Mesilla, and Democracia, in Huehuetenango, as well as Tecun Umán, Malacatán, Tacana and Sibinal, in the department of San Marcos.”
The Guatemalan government then began deploying 5,000 members of the Army to its border with Mexicoin the “Ring of Fire” operation, where they also sent the feared Kaibileswho have orders to kill any suspected criminal. This elite group guards the border between Mexico and Guatemala to prevent drug traffickers from crossing and continuing to advance from Mexico.
In mid-January 2024, Guatemalan officers were shot at by members of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel at a border crossing located in the department of San Marcos.
During a tour conducted by Milenio in Guatemala in early 2024, several farms were seen located near a tourist center with signs of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel.
Guatemalan authorities recognize the presence of criminal groups linked to Mexican cartels, such as The Ponchosled by Juan Jose Morales Cifuentesa violent man who has ties to the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to the Infobae website, in March of this year, the United States Department of the Treasury identified a Guatemalan group that used the CJNG to traffic cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to the United States.
Other criminal groups had already expanded into that territory, such as the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel partnering with Guatemalan traffickers to ensure a steady supply of cocaine from Central America.
Also The Zetas between 2000 and 2010, who carried out bloody massacres during their search for new territories.
Continue reading:
– This is how the Kaibiles, Guatemala’s fearsome elite soldiers who fight drug trafficking, train.
– Hundreds of Mexicans flee to Guatemala after the emergence of a new cartel in Chiapas.