The Guatemalan Army mobilized 2,000 soldiers this Monday (25) to protect its border with Mexico due to violence caused by drug trafficking in the region.
The measure was taken to “guarantee security and governance in Guatemala”, Guatemalan Army spokesman Colonel Rubén Téllez told EFE.
According to him, the Armed Forces of the Central American country are carrying out operations, mainly in the province of San Marcos, located on the northwest border with Mexico.
The measures were adopted in response to the territorial dispute between two criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking in the Mexican state of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala: the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
According to the Ministry of Defense, soldiers were positioned at 14 border points, where ground and air patrols are carried out in the forest areas of the departments of San Marcos and Huehuetenango.
The conflict between drug cartels caused several businesses in the municipality of Tacaná, in San Marcos, to close as a preventative measure.
According to Téllez, the violence that erupted in the Mexican city of Motozintla also caused some residents to cross the border into Guatemala in search of refuge.
Given the situation, the Guatemalan Army coordinates operations with agents from the National Civil Police (PNC), who were sent to the region.
Last week, the former candidate for mayor of the city of San Pedro, Aníbal Ramírez, was shot dead in a location close to the border with Mexico.
The politician was a member of the Semilla Movement party, the same as the elected president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo. The party group stated that it “awaits clarification from the competent authorities regarding the circumstances of the crime.” (With information from the EFE Agency)
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