In Mexico, the Jalisco cartel has declared war on the government, kidnapping Guanajuato police officers on their days off and killing them in front of their families, the Associated Press reports.
The murders are in defiance of Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” policy to prevent any wars with cartels, as they’re now going after the state’s Tactical Group, which they feel has treated them unfairly.
“If you want war, you’ll get a war,” a banner from the cartel read in May. “We have already shown that we know where you are. We are coming for all of you… For each member of our firm (CJNG) that you arrest, we are going to kill two of your Tacticals, wherever they are, at their homes, in their patrol vehicles.”
While Guanajuato officials have not commented on how many officers have been killed so far, security analyst David Saucedo said many are leaving the area for their own safety.
“A lot of [officers] have decided to desert. They took their families, abandoned their homes and they are fleeing and in hiding,” Saucedo said. “The CJNG is hunting the elite police force of Guanajuato.”
State police have said the latest incident focuses on an officer who was kidnapped from their home, killed, and left on a highway last week. Poplab, a news cooperative in Guanajuato, reported that at least seven officers have been “killed on their days off so far this year,” the AP shares.
“This is an open war against the security forces of the state government,” Saucedo said.
