Mexico’s government recently deployed over 1,500 National Guard, army, and police to the Frontera Comalapa region of the Chiapas border state. The initiative comes after a video of locals applauding an armed convoy of drug cartel members ‘liberating’ the city from a rival gang went viral over the weekend.
Some local reporters stated that the residents were forced to applaud the armed men. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador downplayed the incident during a Monday press conference and claimed the regional gangs are fighting over territory to traffic drugs from Guatemala and the rest of Central America. AMLO cited the relatively low murder rate in Chiapas, but official data shows that murders in the region increased by 16% in the first eight months of 2023. Opposingly, the nationwide murder rate has slightly decreased in 2023. Another unverified video posted on Monday allegedly shows four people shot dead by gunmen in Motozintla.
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