By EFE
26 Aug 2024, 02:30 AM EDT
Families of eight police officers who lost their lives gathered during funeral services to say their final farewells in the Mexican state of Michoacan on Sunday, August 25. The officers were shot dead in an ambush by suspected hitmen.
A Mexican Army source confirmed to EFE that the eight community police officers are part of a Nahuatl ethnic group, and worked as community police in the municipality of Coahuayana, located on the Pacific coast and bordering the state of Colima.
They were ambushed
The victims were ambushed on Saturday afternoon while patrolling a dense, wooded area between the towns known as “La Presa” and “Sal si puedes” in several vehicles.
During the attack, the hitmen used a “monster truck,” which they call this because it is a vehicle reinforced with thick layers of steel like homemade armor.
Seven community police officers were killed in the attack, while another died while receiving medical attention at a clinic on the Michoacan coast.
They maintain an operation
Agents of the Mexican Army and the Mexican Navy (Semar) are conducting an operation on the borders of Michoacán and Colima in search of the attackers.
The community police officers were identified by authorities as Mario M., Pedro H., Ángel C., Pedro C., David M., Francisco S., Luis C., and Uriel M., who were bid farewell on Sunday afternoon with a mass at the Catholic chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption, in the center of Coahuayana.
The government of Michoacán did not issue a message
The Government of Michoacán has not issued any position on this matter, since it does not officially recognize the community police of Coahuayana, as there is no record of its members before the State Public Security System.
Coahuayana is one of three municipalities in Michoacán on the Pacific coast, whose pristine beaches are used by drug cartels to traffic cocaine from South America.
The criminal organizations fighting over this territory call themselves the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the Tepalcatepec Cartel, and the Knights Templar Cartel.
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