More than 2,000 federal and state agents carried out a special operation in the northern area of San Cristóbal, where they seized more than a hundred vehicles, and 120 motorcycles, and arrested 16 people, including Manuel Collazo Gómez, leader of the Organization of Evangelical Peoples of Chiapas (Opeach), who is imprisoned for the third time since 1998.
The head of the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), Jorge Luis Llaven Abarca, explained that there was an arrest warrant against the Chamula leader, brother-in-law of the Morena senator, Edith López Hernández, for the crime of attacks against peace.
The northern area of San Cristóbal, inhabited mostly by Indigenous people, many of them expelled years ago for religious and political reasons, is the birthplace of the gang members called Motonetos who travel mainly on motorcycles.
In a joint conference with the prosecutor held in San Cristóbal, the head of the People’s Secretariat, Oscar Aparicio Avendaño, explained that the operation began at 4 a.m. on Sunday, January 19th and that more than 2,000 agents of the recently created Pakal Immediate Reaction Force (FRIP), the National Guard, the Mexican Army, the FGE, and the Investigative Police participated.
He added that in the actions led by him and the prosecutor, they had the support of two helicopters, two unmanned planes, and 50 patrol cars. “It was an operation planned months before; we had already inspected specific points so as not to cause any harm to the civilian population. It was carried out with complete certainty and with quite good precision. 14 searches were carried out.”
He said that weapons, drugs, cartridges, and more than 200 tons of auto parts, presumably stolen, were seized.”
Llaven Abarco said that in the northern area of San Cristóbal, “there have been violent events, homicides – among them two minors in December and January -, car theft and other crimes. That is why this special operation was designed in Tuxtla Gutiérrez.”
He added: “It has been difficult for municipal authorities to enter the northern area. We had to plan the operation under the state’s responsibility. We know the challenge of implementing an operation in that area; we did it in a planned, surgical way. We entered the cells at dawn and each one had a precise instruction to follow, which is why there has been no violent reaction so far.”
Llaven Abarco concluded, “In 43 days of state government we have worked in all regions of the state to reestablish the rule of law and make it clear that there will be zero impunity for criminal conduct and no power vacuums in any region of Chiapas.”
Source: La Jornada
