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Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican Admiral Carlos Salazar Killed In Michoacan Ambush
2013-07-30
[BBC] Gunmen have killed one of Mexico's highest ranking navy officials in the western state of Michoacan, where the military is trying to regain control of areas dominated by warring narco gangs.

The authorities have now tossed in the calaboose
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
 three alleged members of the Knights Templar gang in connection with the killing.

Vice Admiral Carlos Miguel Salazar was ambushed on an unpaved road. His car had been diverted from the main road by protesters believed to have been hired by the gunnies.

The attack, which happened near the town of Churintzio, comes days after two coppers were killed in another ambush.

"We will work with all speed to arrest and bring to justice everyone responsible for his death of Vice Adm Carlos Miguel Salazar," President Enrique Pena Nieto said.

Deadly diversion
Adm Salazar was travelling on a motorway connecting Michoacan's capital, Morelia, with the state of Jalisco, where he was serving as commander of a naval base in Puerto Vallarta.

The navy said Adm Salazar's driver was forced to take the rural road when he found the road blocked by a group of men apparently protesting. Gunmen then opened fire on the car, killing the admiral and his bodyguard. The admiral's wife and his driver were maimed.

Despite the deployment of helicopters and hundreds of security officers to the area, so far no one has been detained in connection with the attack.
Except the three Knights Templar goombas mentioned above. But after all, this is the legendary Beeb, and they've got even more editors and fact checkers on staff than the legendary New York Times.
The Mexican navy has landed a number of well-publicised successes against Mexico's powerful narco mobs, including the arrest two weeks ago of leader of the Zetas narco mob, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales.

There has been a recent spike in violence in Michoacan, with narco mobs fighting the security forces and each other.

On Tuesday, two federal coppers and twenty gunnies were killed when gangs carried out a series of six co-ordinated ambushes on the security forces.

It is not clear who was behind either of the attacks yet, but a cartel calling itself the Knights Templar controls parts of Michoacan state.

In May, Mr Pena Nieto sent a general to Michoacan to take over police and military operations in the hope of quelling the violence.

Seventy-thousand people are estimated to have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2007.

Knights Templar narco mob
  • First emerged in 2011 as an off-shoot of La Familia Michoacana narco mob
  • Takes its name from a Christian military order from the Middle Ages
  • Claims to protect Michoacan residents from kidnappings, extortion and robberies committed by rival gangs
  • Members say they abide by a code of honour which includes not drinking or taking drugs and not abusing family members
  • Often uses pseudo-religious language to justify acts of violence
  • Controls much of the methamphetamine and marijuana trade in western Mexico
  • Cartel members have been accused of murders, kidnappings and extortion
  • Operates mainly in western Michoacan state
  • At war with Zetas cartel and Jalisco Nueva Generacion drugs gang
    • Posted by:trailing wife

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