A Mexican singer who has become a congressman has vowed to arm and mobilize residents unless the state and federal governments commit to protecting them from rival gangs and cartels that continue to terrorize Palmas Altas.
State Representative Marcos Flores made a controversial promise during a town hall meeting on Sunday when he addressed the concerns of residents of the town of Jerez, in the central state of Zacatecas.
“If the federal government ignores us, I myself will call on the people to take up arms,” said Flores, a member of the ruling National Reconstruction Movement.
“I wear the shirt with you as much as possible, and I assure you that you are not alone,” he added.
Flores’ position contradicts President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s tactics to fight criminal organizations by no longer using “violence” to eradicate the problem.
Mexican Congressman Marcos Flores has vowed to support the arming of residents in Zacatecas, Mexico, to protect them from the constant threat of gangs and cartels. Flores, a singer who became a representative of the north-central state of Zacatecas, made public during a town hall meeting on Sunday as residents complained that they had been evicted from their homes by criminals
Residents of the town of Jerez in Zacatecas are led by a military convoy to collect their belongings from the homes from which they were evicted by warring Mexican gangs and cartels.
Most, if not all, of the 276 residents of the small town of Palmas Alta began fleeing their homes in February and March 2021 after members of a criminal organization showed up without warning and were given several hours to leave unless they want to be killed.
According to local digital news NTR Zacatecas, on the morning of February 3, 2022, the criminal group went to the homes and gave the residents two options: “Either leave before 1 pm or consider yourself dead.”
The threats are not limited to Palmas Altas, a small town surrounded by seven acres of farmland and livestock. Within days, a criminal faction also expelled residents of El Colorado, a neighborhood in the municipality of Fresnilo, located outside the city of Jerez Sarabia, one of 13 besieged by gangsters.
About 2,500 people have left their residences in the towns of Fresnilo, Valparaiso and Jerez.
Last Thursday, the Zacatecas National Guard and State Police escorted a caravan of 40 family vehicles that took advantage of a small window to remove their belongings from their homes in Jerez, whose locks and doors were destroyed.
An 80-year-old man, speaking on condition of anonymity, criticized the lack of protection provided by the Zacatecas authorities, accusing them of allowing criminals to take control of “everything we have fought for all our lives.”
He never imagined that the home and town where he lived as a 15-year-old boy would fall under the power of powerful criminal organizations.
“We don’t really have a government. This is nonsense and yes, let them know. “I say that,” he said. “They don’t work, if they worked, we wouldn’t have to live this, run away from home to leave them to criminals.”
Forensic scientists removed 10 bodies left on the street in Fresnillo, a town in the north-central Mexican state of Zacatecas, on February 5th. At least 195 murders were registered between January 1, 2022 and February 15, 2022 in Zacatecas
Alexia Montserrat Abrego Esqueda (left) and Valeria Landeros (right) were two of five current and former students who were found dead between February 13 and 18 in Zacatecas, Mexico, after being abducted while leaving a nightclub on February 1.
The bodies of Irving Castor Rojas (left) and Natalio Torres Balderas (right) were found in a pickup truck on February 13, a day after two students and three other friends were abducted and killed in Zacatecas, Mexico. The North Central State reported 195 murders between January 1, 2022 and February 15, 2022.
Luis Angel Manzanares was among five current and former students who were recruited after leaving a nightclub in Zacatecas, Mexico, on February 12 and found dead the next day in a pickup truck.
The state ranks fifth in the country with 1,652 murders reported in 2021. At least 1,114 have been attributed to criminal organizations, including the Sinaloa cartel and the new-generation Jalisco cartel.
At least 195 murders were registered between January 1, 2022 and February 15, 2022 in Zacatecas.
The wave of violence reached a boiling point when four students and a recent graduate who began teaching were abducted from a city nightclub in Zacatecas on 12 February.
The Bodies of Irving Castor Rojas 21; Natalio Torres Balderas, 21; Luis Angel Manzanares, 25; and 25-year-old Alexia Montserrat teacher Abrego Esqueda were found in a pickup truck the next day.
Valeria Landeros’ whereabouts were unknown before authorities found her body last Friday.
Mexican Congressman Marcos Flores publicly supports the provision of firearms to residents of the north-central state of Zacatecas
Benjamin Lopez Palacios, the mayor of Xoxocotla, was killed by three men at his home on January 11th. A criminal organization appeared and claimed responsibility for the murder
Authorities in Fresnilo woke up on February 5th to find bodies wrapped in blankets and left scattered in the streets, and six others were found “hanging” in a nearby warehouse in Panfilo Natera.
Mayor Benjamin Lopez Palacios was shot dead at his home in the town of Ksoksokotla on January 11th.
Lopez Palacios, who was sworn in as mayor of the local town of Ksoksokotla on January 1st, has been pronounced dead by paramedics.
Just five days before his assassination, authorities found a truck with 10 dead bodies abandoned near government offices in the state capital’s Zacatecas.