Mexico’s president claimed to be moving a large deployment of soldiers to one of his country’s most violent states, Zacatecas. The deployment follows a cartel attack where gunmen killed one of the top leaders of Mexico’s National Guard.
During a news conference, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) revealed that he is deploying a large number of soldiers to Zacatecas where, earlier this week, a group of gunmen killed General Jose Silvestre Urzua Padilla, the regional leader for Mexico’s National Guard.
Lopez Obrador said that the general was leading a raid in the town of Los Pinos during an attempt to address kidnappings in the region where local police officers were involved. During the raid, the general’s vehicle came under attack. He sustained various injuries as he stepped out of the vehicle. Urzua Padilla died after being airlifted to a local hospital.
A news statement from Mexico’s National Guard revealed that two other individuals died in the clash and authorities made several arrests. Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) is believed to be behind the deadly clash in Zacatecas.
During his news conference, AMLO claimed that his officials had identified the individuals behind Urzua Padilla’s death, “the ones who ordered it”, and vowed swift action.
The violence in Zacatecas comes at a time when CJNG has been clashing with other criminal organizations including factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and Los Zetas for control of the state. The ongoing turf wars have led to numerous mass killings and forced disappearances, as well as other acts of extreme violence as one cartel tries to outdo the other.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by “L.P. Contreras” from Mexico City and Jose Luis Lara from Michoacan.
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