The State Prosecutor’s Office described the incident as a “direct attack to the forces of the State.” He also noted that all means will be used to find those responsible.
Juxtlahuaca.- At least five people murdered, three of them civilians and two members of the State Investigation Agency (AEI), is the preliminary balance left by an ambush that occurred this Wednesday afternoon in the vicinity of the community of Lázaro Cárdenas, belonging to the municipality of San Miguel El Grande, in the Mixteca region of Oaxaca; The armed attack also left two other investigating police officers injured, confirmed the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Oaxaca (FGEO).
Regarding the three civilian fatalities, they were identified as two community authorities and a citizen, all from San Miguel El Grande.
The events occurred around 4:30 p.m. this Wednesday in the area “El Santuario de las Aves”, located in the community of Lázaro Cárdenas, while the investigation elements were heading to a diligence, accompanied by members of the National Guard (GN) and residents of San Miguel El Grande, this as a follow-up to the territorial conflict it maintains with Llano de Guadalupe, belonging to the municipality of Tlaxiaco.
According to official reports, the five people who lost their lives during the attack were identified as the agent of the Guadalupe Victoria community, José P.; the agent of the town of Lázaro Cárdenas, Gabriel C., and Román C., a resident of San Miguel El Grande. While the two elements of the AEI were identified as José Luis C., and Moreno P.
The state prosecutor’s office reported that as a result of the ambush, the agent J.L.D.C.T died at the scene, while the investigating police officer M.O.M.P died at the Chalcatongo hospital, where the A.C.J. elements are also treated, and J.C.C.T.
In a statement, the FGEO, the body to which the State Investigation Agency is attached, to which the murdered elements belonged, condemned the events, and described them as a “direct attack and an affront to the forces of the State.” He indicated that all means will be used to find those responsible.
“For the institution, this direct attack represents an affront against the forces of the State, so all investigations and actions must be exhausted to punish the people responsible for the commission of these events; “Therefore, there is already significant progress in identifying them,” the document states.
The law enforcement agency assured that a few hours after the armed attack there was already significant progress in the corresponding investigations to find the whereabouts of the people responsible for this attack.
After the ambush, a strong operation was deployed in the region in which more than 100 elements from the Secretariat of National Defense, Secretariat of Public Security, National Guard and the State Attorney General’s Office participated.
The conflict that exists between San Miguel El Grande and Llano de Guadalupe, which belongs to Tlaxiaco, dates back to at least 1942 and consists of the dispute over 7,964 hectares of forests. Starting last May, the conflict was reactivated and since then violence has escalated in the area.
At the beginning of May, a group of armed men forced more than 150 people from the community of Lázaro Cardenas to leave their homes after an attack that left three people injured and killed. The attackers also set fire to 18 homes and vehicles.
Since then, to date, elements of the GN and the State Police, as well as community authorities from San Miguel El Grande, have kept safe what remains of the belongings of the families of Lázaro Cardenas, who fled but remain firm in their defense of their territory.
Last October EL UNIVERSAL announced that in addition to the violence in this area of the Mixteca, since last March residents of Llano de Guadalupe closed the road that serves as an entrance and exit for their neighbors in Lázaro Cárdenas and a dozen other communities such as San Esteban Atatlahuca, Santa Lucía Monteverde, Santa Cruz Itundujia and Chalcatongo.
Furthermore, this media reported that according to the Oaxacan government, this dispute has been aggravated by clandestine logging and the intention to control the exploitation of forest resources in the area.
Source: El Universal
