The Government of Guerrero has announced this Tuesday that, after a dialogue table, the protesters have decided to release the 13 officials of the security forces that they retained after yesterday’s protests. They have also agreed to remove the blockade on the Autopista del Sol, the most important highway in Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, which had been closed since this morning. Faced with the narrative that local leaders are trying to impose —that this is nothing more than a protest to get better roads—, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, the Secretary of Public Security of Mexico, assures that the objective of the demonstrations is the release of two leaders of Los Ardillos, the criminal group in the area, who were arrested by the authorities last week, and many “had been forced to demonstrate.” Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda has prided herself on the “dialogue policy” that has made it possible to defuse a situation that seemed stagnant by the invisible hand of organized crime operating in the region.
The situation on the highway and in the city is gradually returning to normal. The shops are beginning to open their doors and the vendors have already set out again on the streets of the capital. The mayoress, Norma Otilia Hernández, has reappeared after a few days absent. On his tour of the streets, he has celebrated the importance of the local economy and has given advice to the other presidents and governors: “When crises pass, I want to recommend to other governors that they go out, give people security,” although she has been missing during these days of chaos and riots. The mayoress, during the live video that she has broadcast on Facebook for more than an hour, has not referred to the meeting that transpired between her and the leader of Los Ardillos, with whom she spoke in a restaurant in the city.
Of the public servants detained by the protesters, five were members of the National Guard, five of the state police, and the other three belong to the State Government Secretariat. Rosa Icela Rodríguez has assured that the protests and blockades have nothing to do with claims for the lack of roads, as the protesters claim, but with the arrest a few days ago of two criminal leaders of the Los Ardillos criminal group. “They were also related to various crimes in the region, and were detained in possession of weapon and drug chargers,” the headline reported.
The leaders of the protests, according to the authorities, are also related to Los Ardillos. The main spokesperson has been identified as Gilmar Jaír Sereno, a 39-year-old man who already in 2022 organized similar demonstrations in Quechultenango, in Guerrero, where they also kidnapped military personnel. They demanded the release of a person who had been detained by security forces and who belonged to Los Ardillos, with which the spokesperson has connections, according to authorities. The other leader of the protests is Guillermo Matías Marrón, self-appointed president of the Organization of Commissioners of Guerrero. He owns a construction company and has several criminal cases related to the criminal group that operates in the region.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the president of Mexico, wanted to make a call to the peasants and other protesters. “Do not be manipulated by those who run these gangs that are linked to crime,” said the president, who also asked citizens to act carefully and not confront criminals. “That they remain silent, but that they do not allow themselves to be manipulated.” The protests that began yesterday with the blockade of the Autopista del Sol, the main road in Chilpancingo, have continued this morning with new roadblocks and thousands of protesters who have walked through the center of the capital demanding new roads.
Meanwhile, various representatives met at a dialogue table with the authorities of Guerrero, to discuss new investments in their areas. The General Secretariat of Government assures that its staff is in contact with the protesters from communities in the Central and Lower Mountain region of the State that maintain the blockade at the height of the Parador del Marqués. Ludwig Reynoso Núñez, the owner, has led a dialogue table to talk about his list of demands regarding road infrastructure. On the streets, shops remain closed, classes have been suspended throughout the region, and uncertainty about the end of this new violent attack by organized crime remains pending. “We can be here as long as it takes,” said one of the peasants during the meeting with the authorities.
The mayoress of Chilpancingo, Norma Otilia Hernández, who was discovered meeting with the leader of Los Ardillos in a restaurant in the capital, has appeared in the media after a few days of silence. About their meeting she has said that it was a “juncture moment”, a “chance encounter”, and that “there was nothing wrong” in what she did. Asked about the popular claim that has requested her resignation, the mayoress has said that she does not intend to resign from her position. “It is not a clinging to having a position, but, nevertheless, we are going to continue building,” said the mayoress, who has tried to distance herself from the current situation of chaos that her city is experiencing: “They do not have to do with the investigations that are being carried out with the problems of these situations [las protestas]”.
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