Operation Michoacan
Encyclopedia
Operation Michoacán is a joint operation by Federal, Police, and Mexican Military, to eliminate drug plantations and to combat drug trafficking. Initiated on December 11, 2006, the operation is under the supervision of The Secretary of Public Safety, Attorney General of Mexico (PGR), Secretary of the Interior
, Mexican Navy
, and Mexican Army
.
In some occasions state and municipal police have participated despite not being part of it.The joint operation has distinguished itself as one of the operations against organized crime, drug trafficking in this case, which has employed the largest number of military and police elements, as well as most state forces.
ordered the military to send 4,000 troops to his home state of Michoacán, where drug-related crime has left over 500 dead. Troops were assigned to areas under the control of organised criminals, conducting raids, making arrests and establishing control points on highways and secondary roads. In 2007 May 8 in Apatzingan
, Michoacán
, Soldiers from the 51st Infantry Battalion engaged drug traffickers. Soldiers driving HMMWV armed with Mk 19 grenade launchers killed 4 cartel gunmen, 3 soldiers were reported wounded.
, José Luis Soberanes
, in May 2007, charged that had been at least 53 complaints of human rights violations by the military to the civilian population.
Secretaría de Gobernación
The Secretaría de Gobernación , often shortened to SEGOB is the Cabinet-level agency of Mexico responsible for administering the country's internal affairs, similar to other country's interior ministries...
, Mexican Navy
Mexican Navy
The Mexican Navy is the naval branch of the Mexican military responsible for conducting naval operations. Its stated mission is "to use the naval force of the federation for the exterior defense, and to help with internal order". The Navy consists of about 56,000 men and women plus reserves, over...
, and Mexican Army
Mexican Army
The Mexican Army is the combined land and air branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle, , in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue...
.
In some occasions state and municipal police have participated despite not being part of it.The joint operation has distinguished itself as one of the operations against organized crime, drug trafficking in this case, which has employed the largest number of military and police elements, as well as most state forces.
Background
On December 12, President Felipe CalderónFelipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
ordered the military to send 4,000 troops to his home state of Michoacán, where drug-related crime has left over 500 dead. Troops were assigned to areas under the control of organised criminals, conducting raids, making arrests and establishing control points on highways and secondary roads. In 2007 May 8 in Apatzingan
Apatzingán
Apatzingán is a city and its surrounding municipality. It's located in the hot Tierra Caliente valley, in the west-central part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is the fourth-largest in Michoacán , with a 2005 census population of 93,180 persons...
, Michoacán
Michoacán
Michoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
, Soldiers from the 51st Infantry Battalion engaged drug traffickers. Soldiers driving HMMWV armed with Mk 19 grenade launchers killed 4 cartel gunmen, 3 soldiers were reported wounded.
Local government officials arrested
- On May 2009, federal officers detained 10 mayors of Michoacán and 20 other local officials suspected of being associated with the cartel
The arrest of Arnoldo Rueda & retribution
- On July 11, The Federal Police trapped and arrested one of three of La FamiliaLa Familia Michoacana (drug cartel)La Familia Michoacana, La Familia , or LFM was a Mexican drug cartel and an organized crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Michoacán...
leaders. Arnoldo Rueda Medina aka La Minsa is one of three cartel lieutenants was capture in MoreliaMoreliaMorelia is a city and municipality in the north central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital of the state. The main pre-Hispanic cultures here were the P'urhépecha and the Matlatzinca, but no major cities were founded in the...
, MichoacanMichoacánMichoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
. On the same day as a response to the capture of Arnoldo Rueda, La Familia launched the biggest attacks in the history of Organized crime against Federal Police and Military installations in 8 cities in the western part of Mexico. Even attacking the Federal Police building where Arnoldo was held in. Cartel hitmen were reported using fragmantation grenades, AK-47's and AR-15's in. Three Federal Police officers, two soldiers were reported killed and 18 wounded.
- On July 14, the bodies of 12 Federal Police officers that were investigating criminal activity in the area were found murdered and abandoned along a highway between Lázaro CárdenasLázaro Cárdenas, MichoacánLázaro Cárdenas is a port city that with its surrounding municipality is located in the southern part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. It was formerly known as Los Llanitos, but changed its name as a tribute to Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, a Michoacán-born politician who was president of Mexico from...
-MoreliaMoreliaMorelia is a city and municipality in the north central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital of the state. The main pre-Hispanic cultures here were the P'urhépecha and the Matlatzinca, but no major cities were founded in the...
Government response
- On July 17, as a response to the violence, the federal government stepped up a plan to "surround" Michoacán by Sea, Air and Land. The government have sent 5,500 soldiers and federal police officers, also arriving were fully armed helicopters and vehicles to reinforce the already 7,000 government forces already posted in the state. Furthermore, 25 bases will be deployed for mobile operations on freeways and highways of the first order, which brings to Michoacán in adjacent areas of the states of Guanajuato, Guerrero, Colima, and Jalisco, where troops are participating in the various areas adjacent to the 12th Military Region. The government is considering building 67 mobile bases of operation, nine of joint operations by personnel of the Army and Federal Police, strengthening air support aircraft both fixed wing and rotary wing.
- On July 21, The army completed the reinforcement of "Joint Operation Michoacán" with 2,500 troops to assist the already 1,000 troops already in the state. Also the Secretariat of the NavySecretary of the Navy (Mexico)In Mexico, the Secretary of the Navy is a member of the federal executive cabinet with responsibility for managing the country's navy and marine forces. The secretary is appointed by the President of the Republic and heads the Secretariat of the Navy...
announced that the navy launched sea, air, and land surveillance operations at the coast and also sent 1,500 marines.
- On July 30, The Federal Police arrested "La Familia's" financial operator Armando Quintero Guerra aka "El Licenciado"(The Bachelor) and the cartels alleged leader Servando "El Tuta" Gomez girlfriend Lourdes Medina Hernández in UruapanUruapanUruapan is a city and municipality in the west-central part of the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is the municipal seat of the municipality...
. The PFP also captured another financial operator of Nazario Moreno GonzálezNazario Moreno GonzálezNazario Moreno González was a Mexican drug lord of the La Familia drug cartel, headquartered in the state of Michoacán.-Biography:...
aka "El Chayo".
Ongoing confrontations
- On July 30, SEDENA has reported that 6 cartelCartelA cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
gunmen were killed in a confrontation with troops in the town of Guayuameo in the municipality of ZirándaroZirándaroZirándaro is one of the 81 municipalities of Guerrero, in south-western Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Zirándaro de los Chávez. The municipality covers an area of 2,475.6 km².As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 20,053....
. Soldiers from the 21st military zone were "attacked with firearms inside a home, so they proceeded to repel aggression." army officials said.
- On August 15, Federal Police forces captured a boss of La Familia, along with other 7 lieutenants. Héctor Manuel Oyarzabal Hernández aka "El Héctor" was in charge of the municipalities of Ixtapaluca, ChalcoChalcoAluminum Corporation of China Limited, also known as Chalco , is a multinational aluminum company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China...
, Valle de ChalcoValle de ChalcoValle de Chalco, officially named Valle de Chalco Solidaridad, is a municipality located in Mexico State, Mexico, on the eastern outskirts of the metropolitan area of Mexico City...
and OzumbaOzumbaOzumba is a town and municipality located in the southeast portion of the Valley of Mexico, 70km southeast of Mexico City near the Mexico City-Cuautla highway. The main feature of this area is the Parish of the Immaculate Conception which began as a Franciscan monastery in the 16th century...
in the State of Mexico. The operation succeeded without a shot being fired.
- On August 25, Federal Police forces captured Manuel Alejandro Sotelo Barrera aka "El Bolucho". He is supposed leader of La Familia's Leon, GuanajuatoLeón, GuanajuatoThe city of León, formally León de los Aldama is the sixth most populous city in Mexico and the first in the state of Guanajuato. It is also the seat of the municipality of León...
chapter and nephew of Servando Gómez aka "La Tuta". On the same day the army captured Luis Ricardo Magaña Mendoza aka "El 19 y medio" (19 and a half) another leader of the cartel and five other cartel members in Manzanillo, Colima.
2010
- January 8 - during a routine patrol, troops were attacked by gunmen in a pick up vehicle, provoking a gunfight that lasted for various minutes in MichoacánMichoacánMichoacán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia...
. 4 gunmen and one soldier were killed.
- January 30 - 5 federal police officers were ambushed by gunmen while traveling on the Highway Occidente; seven federal officers were reported injured. The ambush scrambled federal helicopters, troops, and state police to find the ones responsible.
- April 24 - A three vehicle convoy carrying the Public Safety Secretary was attacked by gunmen which left two bodyguards and two bystanders dead. Hours later a police station in MoreliaMoreliaMorelia is a city and municipality in the north central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital of the state. The main pre-Hispanic cultures here were the P'urhépecha and the Matlatzinca, but no major cities were founded in the...
was attacked by grenades, the explosion damaged three vehicles.
- June 14 - 10 Federal Police officers were ambushed and killed while several others were injured during a firefight in ZitácuaroZitácuaroZitácuaro is a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name, which lies at the extreme eastern side of Michoacán and borders on the adjacent state of México...
. The Federal police managed to kill and injure the gunmen who are presumed to be part of La Familia Michoacana cartel, immediately after the gunfight army air and land units were sent to secure the area.
- June 16 - After the June 14 ambush attack on Federal Police officers, the mexican army doubled there patrols in the rural areas of ZitácuaroZitácuaroZitácuaro is a city in the Mexican state of Michoacán. The city is the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name, which lies at the extreme eastern side of Michoacán and borders on the adjacent state of México...
.
- November 5 - After a suspected Drug Leader was trapped in Tzurumútaro (a little town located near Morelia), a series of consequtives attacks took place on Morela. There attacks consisting of narcobloqueos (narcoblocks, a series of run blocks) with cars on fire, with gunfight between the Federal Police, Mexican Army and hitmans
Controversy
Operation Michoacán is the first stage of the so-called War Against Drug Trafficking implemented by the federal government of President Felipe Calderón.The joint operation has been questioned about the human rights violations that may have occurred, given the military presence among the civilian population of the state of Michoacán. The chairman of the National Commission on Human RightsNational Human Rights Commission (Mexico)
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution accredited at the United Nations with 'A' status by the International Co-ordinating Committee of NHRIs . It is a member of the Network of National Institutions in the Americas, one of four regional groups within...
, José Luis Soberanes
José Luis Soberanes
José Luis Soberanes Fernández is a prominent Mexican lawyer. He was president of the National Human Rights Commission of Mexico from November 16, 1999 to November 15, 2009....
, in May 2007, charged that had been at least 53 complaints of human rights violations by the military to the civilian population.