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Photo by: Ezequiel Flores |
Translated by Valor for Borderland Beat
Community Police from the towns of Nuevo Balsas, La Fundición and Real del Limón freed 10 of the 18 people kidnapped two days ago by a gang in the service of La Familia.
Six of the victims, among them a contractor and a mining cleaner from the mine Media Luna, were abandoned on a hill by their captors who were in the presence of a siege by the community policemen who acted in coordination with the Mexican Army and the Federal Police.
The other four hostages escaped after one of them began to struggle with one of the criminals.
The victim, identified as Mario Bahena Aguilar, originally from Apipilulco and a mine worker, was injured after being shot in the leg and one of the criminals was beaten to death, three of the men who escaped reported to Proceso.
“Mario saved our lives,” said one of the hostages when he was safe with a group of Community Police, who went up to the hill of La Campana to rescue the wounded hero.
The 10 victims were safeguarded by the community policemen and one of the criminals, who tried to pass himself off as a hostage, was arrested.
The woman and nine men were transferred to a health clinic in the community where they were attended to because they had received blows and were suffering from exhaustion due to dehydration.
The injured man was taken to a specialty hospital aboard an army helicopter.
Accompanied by members of the Mexican Army, the villagers deployed along the banks of the river and in the hills in order to locate the other victims (of which there is no certain number) since they were deprived of their freedom in different parts of the mining area and separated into several groups as indicated by the hostages.
According to the version of the victims, the kidnappers who were wearing military-style uniforms and are being led by a criminal identified as Uriel Wences Delgado “La Burra”,an operator of the criminal group La Familia who was expelled by the Community Guard since December 2013 when the inhabitants decided to take up arms to confront crime, are still in the hills and have more people held hostage.
The mass kidnapping occurred Friday afternoon in the mining area of Cocula. The federal government and management of the Media Luna mine tried to minimize and outright deny any events happening despite the public denunciation of the inhabitants and the Community Police.
Among the victims are mine workers, fishermen, and members of the Community Police.
Source:Proceso