Army, state and federal police reinforce Michoacan border

Over one thousand federal and state police have been deployed to the border between Jalisco and Michoacan following a recent spate of violence in the region.

Michoacan Governor Fausto Vallejo Figueroa confirmed this week that Mexican Army units are also patrolling the area to prevent further disturbances, while his Jalisco counterpart Emilio Gonzalez said he wants to deploy another military battalion on the border.

Plans are underway to “build facilities to house a battalion in Jalisco on the border with Michoacan … helping us to improve our security in both states,” Gonzalez said.

At least 38 people, including 11 police officers, were killed in the two states in the days leading up to Christmas, and another ten were murdered in southeast Jalisco on Sunday, January 6.

Seven men were shot dead in El Terrero and Pueblo Nuevo in the municipality of Jilotlan de los Dolores and another three bodies were then found in the plaza of El Montoso in the nearby municipality of Quitupan.

Jalisco public security chief Luis Carlos Najera blamed the violence on conflict between rival criminal gangs, the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion and the Knights Templar from Michoacan.

“It is a clash between organized crime groups, we are working together with the Mexican military and the federal police to try to restore calm in the area,” Najera said.