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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Tamaulipas Top Cop Resigns, Death Toll Reaches 145 |
| 2011-04-21 |
| By Chris Covert To see a map, click here. To see a map of Tamaulipas, click here. Corresting new item about the number of police detainees in the PGR investigation, from 55 to 16. The grisly death toll in the San Fernando, Tamaulipas mass grave reached 145 last Friday as the top police official in Tamaulipas resigned, according to Mexican news reports. Brigadier General Ubaldo Ayala Tinoco, who had been the head of Tamaulipas' Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP), resigned last weekend in the wake of the continuing investigation into the disappearance and deaths of Mexican citizens starting two weeks ago. To see Rantburg reports on the San Fernando mass graves, click here, here and here. Ayala Tinoco has been Tamauliaps top police official for only 107 days, from the start of the administration of Governor Egidio Torre Cantú, who was elected to his post last July. Since the naming of the new Tamaulipas SSP official, events have moved very quickly, including the detention of 55 individuals, 16 of them local police officers in San Fernando, for their alleged roles in the murders, and the arrest of a mastermind in those and the 72 murders last year of migrants heading to the US. Replacing a top official in Mexican state houses is unheard of even in cases of extreme reverses. Top officials tend to retain their posts until their boss can find a replacement even though an embarrassing event has taken place. It can be easily read as a sign of things to come in Tamaulipas, a state with a less than solid record with regard to Mexican organized crime. But since the change of government in Tamaulipas, a number of subtle changes in security arrangements have taken place, mostly concerning the deployment and presence of Mexican Federal security forces, including the army and marines. For example, army detachments in both Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas have been swapped and mixed, and have been concentrating patrols on the border between the two states mainly on the Monterrey-Reynosa highway. Though an announcement late last winter by Nuevo Leon governor Rodrigo Medina suggested that sealing the borders between the two states was a possible solution to security problems in the area, later news reported the cross attachments and increased patrols between the two states combining and mixing units from both states. So in that sense the appointment of the new SSP official, First Captain of the Army Rafael Lomeli Martinez, makes some sense. Prior to taking the Tamaulipas SSP job, Lomeli Martinez was head of all Mexican Policia Federal (PF) forces in neighboring Nuevo Leon. Reports also say Lomeli Martinez was in charge of PF forces in Tamaulipas as well. He also served in the army for 23 years. Lomeli Martinez appearance in the government of Torres Cantu also suggests possible involvement of the Mexican federal government in the choice. On Mexican Army Day last February, Tamaulipas was named the first state to receive four new army rifle battalions to be raised in the north. Torres Cantu mentioned the formation of the new forces in the announcement of the arrest of the first 16 San Fernando municipal police officers last weekend. To read Rantburg reports on the Army Day announcement, click here. Though the Mexican federal system is a strong centralized system, Calderon in the past has made it a point of getting local officials to sign off on new deployments before they happen, and to make sure they are in line with local security arrangements. Torres Cantu is no exception. He attended the Army Day celebration that announced the formation of the new unit. Another factor suggesting federal government involvement is Mexican President Felipe Calderon recently named Mexico's first female attorney general (PGR) Marisela Morales three weeks go. A new attorney general is likely to have a strong hand in security arrangements as the war on the cartels continues, since the new arrangements now have her new imprimatur on them. Governor Torres Cantu has a personal stake in the outcome of security in Tamaulipas. It was his brother, Rodolfo Torres Cantu, who was shot to death along with four of his security detail in northern Tamaulipas in an ambush last June. Reports at the time suggested the members of the Los Zetas drug gang, dressed as Mexican Marines, killed Rodolfo in a stretch of highway near the coast. Egidio took over his brother's campaign and went on to win the governor's seat in a landslide. To read Rantburg reports on the murder of Rodolfo Torres Cantu, click here and here. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #2 Thanks, and me too. |
| Posted by: badanov 2011-04-21 23:34 |
| #1 Two good reports, badanov. I'm glad you decided to take on Mexico. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-04-21 22:29 |
