For a map, click here. For a map of Zacatecas, click here New infromation released about a third disappeared.
By Chris Covert
A series of armed confrontations between Mexican security forces and armed suspects starting Tuesday afternoon has ended up with 20 armed suspects dead and 20 detained in Zacatecas state in north central Mexico, according to Mexican news accounts.
At the moment it is uncertain if the firefights started as a result of a federal effort to locate two national newspaper employees reported missing Monday afternoon between Zacatecas, the capital of Zacatecas state and Guadalajara, Jalisco to the southwest of the state.
Osvaldo Garc"a Iniguez, a regional circulation manager for El Financieros newspaper and his driver Jose de Jesus Ortiz Parra were reported missing Monday afternoon aboard a Nissan pickup truck. The two men left Zacatecas at around 1618 hrs on Monday along Mexican Federal Highway 44 and have not been heard from since.
Latest reports from the Zacatecas attorney general office (PGJE) said that at least seven municipal police agents in Zacatecas municipality are under investigation fro their role in the disappearance.
El Diario de Coahuila published a report that said a third individual was with the pair when they disappeared, who was identified as Filiberto Munguia AKA El Fili who had apparently been released from prison in Fresnillo. Munguia was arrested November 6th in eúl Gonzalez Ortega municipality, which borders Jalisco state to the south, for possession of munitions. Munguia has been described as a member of the Gulf cartel.
The Gulf cartel has operated in alliance with the Sinaloa cartel in drug manufacturing/shipping operations in northern Jalisco.
Many highways in Zacatecas are used by organized crime for carjacking and to extract tribute from travellers, especially in the northwest quadrant of the state. In that area a few weeks ago two Catholic ministers were robbed and carjacked with an hour of one another.
On Tuesday, Zacatecas government officials reported federal security forces were operating in Fresnillo, about 30 kilometers northwest of the capital and a national road node leading to Durango state, Coahuila state and San Luis Potosi state.
Reports were gunfire was heard in areas around Fresnillo and, fixed and rotary winged aircraft were seen patrolling the area. At least one exchange of gunfire took place near a Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Fresnillo where manned and unmanned aircraft had been seen.
Later, clashes between Mexican Army and Naval Infantry troops, and armed suspects took place on the highway between Fresillo and Valparaiso some 40 kilometers southwest of Fresnillo. Reports say the gunfights took place at the border between Fresnillo and Valparaiso, where one criminal-operated vehicle had overturned, and an undisclosed number of other bullet pocked vehicles were presumably abandoned. The road between the two municipalities had been closed due to the combat.
Wednesday afternoon at about 1500 hrs, a gunfight took place near the General Hospital in Fresnillo where as many as 250 military effectives supported by five helicopters, surrounded a number of armed suspects, according to the Mexican daily NTR Zacatecas. This latest gunfight is where 20 armed suspects reportedly died at the hands of Mexican federal security forces, and another 20 were detained.
However, the Zacatecas attorney general's office said no one was reported killed and two individuals were wounded,although that report did not provide much detail.
Zacatecas state was the recent recipient of three newly raised rifle battalions, presumably part of the 18 rifle units funded by the Mexican Chamber of Deputies earlier in the year. One of the bases housing a rifle company is already occupied.
To read a Rantburg report on Zacatecas' security crisis click here