The state governments of Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo, and Tlaxcala will join forces to combat organized crime, reduce crime rates, and maintain governance. This includes coordination with the federal government and information sharing to capture priority targets and dismantle regional criminal groups.
This agreement was established at the Interstate Peace Roundtable held in Puebla by the four states to strengthen actions addressing high-impact crimes such as homicides, drug dealing, cargo and vehicle theft, fuel theft, and illegal logging.
Cofepris (Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks) warns of Ibuprofen theft on the Mexico-Puebla highway. Led by Rocío Bárcena Molina, Undersecretary for Peacebuilding, Social Participation, and Religious Affairs, and hosted by Governor Alejandro Armenta Mier, the governments agreed to update their security strategy with a regional focus and measurable short-term objectives.
At the meeting, the comments of the acting commander of the Sixth Military Region, Miguel Ángel Aguirre Lara, stood out. He accused criminals in the region of adopting a strategy of creating confusion regarding the jurisdictions of the authorities, fragmenting investigations, and obstructing those responsible from facing justice.
The federal command proposed that the federal government and the states promote an immediate and systematic exchange of operational information, joint identification of perpetrators of violence with regional follow-up, and coordinated operations in border areas to eliminate the operational gaps that criminals exploit.
The Puebla government released the actions that the federal and state governments will use to combat crime.
In the case of homicides, there will be attention to priority targets and violence reduction; joint identification of perpetrators of violence and targeting of criminal cells; capture operations based on prior intelligence; and a regional analysis of crime rates will be conducted.
Regarding street-level drug dealing, authorities will intervene in priority urban areas, identifying sales points through intelligence gathering and mapping regional sales locations. Furthermore, they will promote the exchange of objectives between prosecutors’ offices and the implementation of preventative strategies in schools.
With respect to cargo and vehicle theft, the federal government proposed securing logistics corridors, reinforcing security on highway sections with the highest incidence of crime, and implementing security checkpoints and patrols. Coordination with transportation companies will be sought, as well as integration with state C5 and C4 command centers to monitor highways.
Regarding fuel theft, actions will be taken to contain and dismantle networks; there will be continuous monitoring of pipelines and tapping areas, joint surveillance of pipelines crossing states, simultaneous raids, intelligence sharing on trafficking routes, regional logistical blockades, and coordinated investigations.
And regarding illegal logging, the states agreed on targeted objectives and territorial control. Identification of critical zones using state intelligence and citizen reports; simultaneous operations in border areas to prevent the spread of crime; inspection checkpoints on interstate highways; a shared database of illegal loggers; coordinated actions with the Federal Attorney General’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa); and standardized prosecution with the support of the Judiciary and the Human Rights Commission.
…and Oaxaca joins Puebla
Hours later, Governor Alejandro Armenta met with his counterpart from Oaxaca, Salomón Jara Cruz, to reaffirm the public security agreement between the two states.
Both governors acknowledged the ongoing coordination to combat organized crime in the Tehuacán and Acatlán de Osorio area of Puebla, and the Mixteca and Cañada regions of Oaxaca, where crimes such as homicide, vehicle theft, and drug dealing persist.
Source: milenio
