A car bomb exploded this Saturday in front of the community police headquarters in Coahuayana, in Michoacán, killing at least five people and injuring five people, including minors, as this newspaper learned. The attack on the headquarters of the municipal command occurred in the middle of the process of “pacification” of the state, a strategy implemented by President Claudia Sheinbaum after the brutal assassination of the mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo, during a public event.
The explosion occurred at 11:40 a.m. on Rayón Avenue, in the center of the city. As a truck carrying bananas passed in front of the command gate, the leader of the Coahuayana self-defense groups, Héctor Zepeda, known as Commander Teto, explained to EL PAÍS. The FGR confirmed that the driver of the truck that exploded is one of the deceased, as well as two other people who were at the regional hospital. The shock wave from the device damaged the medical center as well as neighboring homes, private vehicles and businesses.
The Michoacán Prosecutor’s Office is coordinating the investigation into the attack, in which the Secretariat of Defense, Navy and Security, as well as the National Guard, are also participating. Michoacán’s new Security Secretary, José Antonio Cruz, who arrived after Manzo’s assassination, reported a joint operation in the area between federal and state forces.
This banana-producing land, with more than 7,000 hectares of plantations, has always been under siege. First it was the Templars, and lately the enemy is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Located in the coastal area of Michoacán, it is a contested territory, due to its powerful banana industry, its proximity to the Aquila mine (in Colima) and meth laboratories in the mountains.
Near Coahuayana are army and National Guard bases, but residents have warned for years against omitting them. This is why a year ago, in an interview with this newspaper, Commander Teto admitted to being exhausted: “I am tired, but even more disappointed by the government. The government continues to view us with suspicion! We are not against them, we are against them supporting the others.”
With information from Pablo Ferri.
About The Author
