By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Mexican Policia Federal units will continue to patrol the roads and highways of Zacatecas and more reinforcements are coming, according to Mexican news reports.
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| Miguel Alonzo Reyes |
In a news account published in the website of El Sol de Zacatecas news daily, Zacatecas governor Miguel Alonso Reyes was quoted saying that Mexico interior minister, Miguel Osorio Chong has promised to keep Mexican federal security forces patrolling the state.
Govenor Alonso Reyes recounted a meeting with Osorio Chong last Thursday in which the Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB), the official name for the interior minister, iterated federal support for security operations in the state.
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| SEGOB Miguel Osorio Chong |
Two weeks ago in a required report, SEGOB said that Policia Federal units would be dispatched to the border area between Jalisco and Michoacan states in the wake of a spike in violence in that area.
The area to be reinforced is well south of Zacatecas state. Another trouble spot for Zacatecas state has been the border area with Jalisco state to its south. Already Mexican Army troops patrol the area and maintain a large base.
SEGOB last December folded the old Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP) -- the controlling agency for the Policia Federal -- into a separate sub agency of SEGOB, while discussions in Mexico City among legislators continue with President Enrique Pena's newly proposed Gendarmaria Nacional continue. What form and what mission the new police force will take remains a mystery. Despite its new role in SEGOB, Policia Federal units are constantly being shifted to trouble spots in Mexico, much as they was used during the term of former president Felipe Calderon.
Alonso Reyes also said that SEGOB has committed to keeping Mexican Army and Naval Infantry troops in the state. Zacatecas currently houses three Mexican Army rifle battalions in the state in the form of several rifle company sized installations.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com