Item from Blog Del Narco

There was an incident last week in the city of Ixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Here's a quick manual translation of the post at Blog Del Narco, imperfect but probably better than by machine. There are other accounts of the incident, of course, but Blog Del Narco is where I first saw it so that's the one I translated. Details differ among accounts, but the gist of it is there. Square brackets and parentheses below are where I didn't know or find a direct translation, but the meaning remains, I think.

Video in which federal policemen beat municipal policemen in Ixtepec, Oaxaca

Oaxaca de Juarez, 8 September

This evening around 7:30, a group of federal policemen tried to rescue two of their members who had been detained by municipal police for being in a state of complete drunkenness. In the process, federal police shot at municipal elements (municipal police forces) in the city of Ixtepec, Oaxaca.

According to early reports, it was around 4:30 p.m. when two federal policemen were "celebrating" with some women from a bar called "El Chicotazo" (The Whiplash), raising so much hell in the place that the owners called the municipal police who, upon arrival, detained the two drunken federal policemen and the women they were with, and transported them to the police station.

Three hours later, a convoy of federal police arrived at the police station aboard two vehicles, one numbered 14049, to rescue their friends, and without saying anything started to shoot at the station with their R-15's [AR-15's?], hurting nine uniformed municipal policemen, three of whom are in serious condition in Macedonio Benitez de Juchitan Hospital in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. (This is an early report. From the video, and from later reports, it looks like the shooting was apparently into the ground for intimidation.)

The police in the City of Ixtepec do not bear arms, and so were not able to repel the aggression of the PFP (the federal police).

The three seriously injured municipal policemen are: Padilla Torres Diaz, Uriel Ortiz Leon and Regino Guzman Colmenares, the latter in very delicate state.

In the same vicinity is the 13th Cavalry Regiment of the Mexican Army, who, upon hearing the shooting went to the location aboard vehicle 0913271, and apparently detained 12 federal policemen, transporting them to military headquarters.

It's not known if the military (consignaron) [questioned] the federal agents, but they did confiscate seven R-15 with retractable butt, 12 30-round magazines, a loaded 9-millimeter, seven bullet-proof vests, a portable radio, a black Kaplan helmet and a van numbered 14049.

A YouTube video of the incident is embedded at this point in the Blog Del Narco post. Watch it at YouTube or at the embed in the Blog Del Narco post.

Ixtepeceans view federal policemen in the municipality as criminals

City of Ixtepec, Oaxaca. - The [jeromeña] citizenry coincided in signaling that the federal policemen who have come to this city have behaved like real criminals and do not inspire confidence, since those belonging to that police group are people whose absence of education shines through. (This refers not to academic education but manners, courtesy, respect, decency. Apparently the federal police are regarded as a bunch of lowlife hooligans.)

This after learning of the new aggression against local police in which nine were injured, one of them balancing between life and death because of injuries received at the hands of the [energúmenos] members of the federal police.

The most gravely injured among the municipal policemen is Regino Guzman Colmenares who received, according to his colleagues, several rifle-butt blows to the head, and was thrown to the floor leaving a pool of blood, and who is under care at the general hospital of Juchitan.

Municipal authorities say they have filed complaints against the eleven members of the PFP (federal police) and the two women who were with them.

It nevertheless happened that despite the [malandros] (federal police miscreants) having ended up in the hands of elements of the 13th batallion of motorized calvalry from the 46th Military Zone, they were not turned over to the federal prosecutor's office as procedure requires, but instead, taking unilateral decision, they were set free, leaving [un palmo de narices] (a slew of injuries) to the municipal police which are still being tended to medically.

That is why the citizenry [jeromeña] rises in indignation, for the fact that delinquents dressed as federal policemen are given cover by the Mexican army when they should be paladins of justice.

The municipal police are now fearful that the freed federal agents will take reprisal against them, and that there will be frameups linking the municipal police to other criminal groups, as the feds frequently do.

Later on it was announced that while the military released the federal policemen, personnel from federal police internal affairs have sequestered them in the Regente hotel, where they remain until their situation is determined.