Benito Jiménez/ Reform Agency
Sunday, January 22, 2023 | 07:03
Morelia, Mexico.- A commando ambushed and killed Colonel Héctor Miguel Vargas, commander of the 65th Infantry Battalion, based in Coalcomán, Michoacán.
The attack by an alleged cell of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) against the soldiers of the battalion occurred on Friday in the town of Barranca Seca, about 130 kilometers from Coalcomán.
Unofficial versions state that the military command was run over by a handmade armored vehicle, known as a “monster”, from where the criminals fired shots.
The health of another soldier is reported as serious due to gunshot wounds.
Since Tuesday, the Army carried out a series of patrols in that area and detained Rosario Israel, “El 22”, an alleged operator of the CJNG.
The arrest in Aguililla (82 kilometers from Coalcomán) of Alma Antonia “N” with doses of various drugs was also reported.
The CJNG has a presence in Aguililla and Coalcomán for the operation of drug laboratories, with supplies that arrive at the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, according to ministerial reports.
The Secretary of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, mourned the death of the Colonel.
Attacks on commanders turn on red lights in barracks
The ambushes against the Armed Forces have already set off red flags in the military barracks.
After the attack on Friday on the commander of the 65th Infantry Battalion in Coalcomán, Michoacán, Colonel Héctor Miguel Vargas Carrillo, who was killed, and the attack on Colonel Juan José Moreno Urzúa, on January 5 in Escuinapa, Sinaloa, in the Military Zones, patrolling protocols were reinforced, mainly in rural areas.
Sources from the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) reported that the commanders were informed so that security provisions are taken in reconnaissance tasks, with previous intelligence work and the reinforcement of troops to guarantee the safety of their superiors.
Just on January 11, on the stretch of highway that leads from Valle de Juárez to Santa María del Oro, in the southern zone of Jalisco, a shooting against soldiers was reported.
At that point, state police officers moved, finding members of the Army who were asking for support after being ambushed by armed individuals. The perpetrators had escaped through a gap towards a hill.
On January 7, at least two members of the National Guard and one from the Army were killed during an ambush perpetrated by armed individuals in the municipality of Charcas, in the northwest area of San Luis Potosí.
“The assaulted personnel were carrying out operational and surveillance tasks in the town of San Juan de Tuzal, when they were shot by armed civilians,” the San Luis Potosí Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
“Derived from these events, two elements of the GN and one of the Sedena were found dead in the line of duty. The bodies of the victims were taken to the Legal Medical Service for the legal necropsy.”
It was reported that the armed aggression took place on the Santo Domingo-Charcas highway, when the military elements were carrying out surveillance work in the altiplano region, close to the border with Zacatecas.
On January 5, Colonel Moreno moved from Nayarit to Sinaloa to support the operations that led to the capture of Ovidio Guzmán, son of “El Chapo.”
Three of its elements were injured in the attack orchestrated by hitmen from the Sinaloa Cartel, some 308 kilometers from Culiacán, before reaching Mazatlán.
On December 11, gunmen from the armed wing of the Del Noreste Cartel, known as the “Hell Troop,” ambushed soldiers in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, killing two officers and killing four criminals.
The soldiers were carrying out surveillance tasks when they were attacked with bullets.
On September 13, a military unit that was traveling through Chenalhó and Aldama, in Chiapas, was attacked by criminal groups on a road near Santa Martha.
