Members of the security forces in confrontation with the inhabitants of La Concepcion. Photo @: La Jornada/Xinhua

On January 7th, members of the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities – Community Police (CRAC-PC in its Spanish acronym) from the town of La Concepcion, municipality of Acapulco, were ambushed by unknown armed persons according to the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center. In the confrontation, two community policemen and six members of the attacking group died.

Hours later, the government of the state of Guerrero mounted an operation of more than 100 elements of the security forces made up of ministerial and state police, as well as the army who deployed in surrounding communities in order to search the homes of members of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (CECOP in its Spanish acronym), without any legal warrant issued by a competent authority. At the time of the events a helicopter was flying over the area, inside which a state policeman “unleashed a round of amunition that resulted in the extrajudicial execution of three community policemen. At that moment all the police forces gathered to arrest Marco Antonio Suastegui Muñoz and Vicente Suastegui Muñoz, leaders of the CECOP, as well as more than 30 community police officers. Around 5 o’clock in the afternoon, elements of the ministerial police moved Marco Antonio Suastegui out of the Prosecutor’s Office based in Acapulco without his family’s knowledge so far of his whereabouts.”

In addition, according to Proceso magazine, seven reporters were beaten and stripped of their work equipment, including photographer Bernardino Hernandez, to prevent them from documenting the violent operation led by the head of the State Public Security Secretariat (SSP in its Spansih acronym), the active general Pedro Almazan

For more information in Spanish: Enfrentamiento en comunidad de Acapulco deja al menos ocho muertos (El Sol de Mexico, 7 de enero de 2018) ACCIÓN URGENTE | Detienen e incomunican a más de 30 policías comunitarios de La Concepción, Acapulco y ejecutan a tres (Centro de derechos humanos de la montaña Tlachinollan, 8 de enero de 2018) Cacahuatepec: los policías se habían ido; regresaron sólo para detener a Suástegui (La Jornada Guerrero, 8 de enero de 2018) La CNDH emite medidas cautelares tras enfrentamiento en zona rural de Acapulco (Proceso, 8 de enero de 2018) Deja 11 muertos enfrentamiento entre grupo armado y comunitarios en Guerrero (Proceso, 8 de enero de 2018) Declaran tres de seis policías comunitarios del Cecop (La Jornada, 9 de enero de 2018)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Heridos siete integrantes del Cecop (3 de mayo de 2016)

Guerrero: Liberan a vocero del CECOP, Marco Antonio Suástegui (24 de agosto de 2015)

Guerrero: Ataque a integrantes del CECOP deja saldo de 5 muertos (19 de noviembre de 2014)