ConflictBarometer_2015

THE AMERICAS
fices were carried out throughout the year. On February 24,
Federal Police (PF) cleared the airport of Acapulco, Guerrero,
which had been occupied by around 4,500 CNTE-associated
unionists demanding the payment of outstanding salaries.
A subsequent clash left approx. seven policemen and five
protesters injured. Another 120 were arrested. Protesters
threw stones while the police responded using tear gas.
Protests increased in frequency as the mid-term elections
scheduled for June 7 approached. The day before the elections,
PF disbanded the occupation of the National Electoral
Institute's office in Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca, which CNTE
had set up in the attempt to boycott the elections. A total of
20 people were injured when the police used tear gas and
protesters hurled stones and wielded clubs.
Between October and December, teachers' unions and normalistas
repeatedly tried to disrupt the performance of
teacher evaluation tests, a crucial part of the president's education
reform. On October 18, for instance, protesters tried
to obstruct the evaluations in Ocozocoautla de Espinosa,
Chiapas, leading to a clash with state police, leaving eleven
people injured. Teachers torched a police car and damaged a
public bus. On December 8, normalistas blocked a toll booth
in Zirahuén, Michoacán, demanding jobs without evaluation
tests. After anti-riot police had cleared the place, about 200
normalistas and locals returned and attacked the platoon
of around 40 policemen with Molotov cocktails, explosive
devices, stones, and clubs. A total of 52 normalistas were
arrested while the injured amounted to five policemen and
twelve normalistas. The same day, a protest march numbering
3,300 participants in Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, Chiapas,
escalated when CNTE members attacked a 5,000-strong PF
contingent with stones, clubs, and incendiary devices. Three
policemen were injured and six protesters arrested. One
teacher was run over by a car and died. This incident and the
Michoacán clashes triggered a series of further protests. For
example, on December 10, 50,000 CNTE members marched
in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. They attacked the police with
clubs and stones, injured five policemen, damaged three
police buses, and stole police equipment. Three policemen
were taken hostage and were only released when authorities
agreed to exchange them for the six protesters detained on
December 8. Despite widespread protests, 86.2 percent of
all convened teachers participated in the nationwide evaluations.
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MEXICO (DRUG CARTELS)
Intensity: 5 | Change: | Start: 2006
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
drug cartels vs. vigilante groups
vs. government
subnational predominance, resources
The war over subnational predominance, illegal drugs, and
natural resources between various drug cartels and vigilante
groups known as autodefensas, on the one hand, and the
government under President Enrique Peña Nieto, on the
other, continued. The most active drug cartels were the Gulf
Cartel (CDG), Los Zetas, the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación
(CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, and Los Caballeros Templarios
(LCT). Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Michoacán, and Guerrero were the
most affected states. Clashes between government forces
and armed groups took place almost daily. Additionally,
the inter-cartel conflict remained highly violent [→ Mexico
(inter-cartel violence, paramilitary groups)].
Violence in Jalisco increased compared to the previous
year. On March 19, supposed CJNG gunmen armed with
assault rifles and 9mm pistols attacked a patrol from Jalisco's
Joint State and Municipal Police Force (FU) near the town
of Ocotlán. Five police officers, three presumed criminals
and three civilians were killed. In another attack on a FU
convoy on its way from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara on
April 6, five police officers and ten alleged CJNG members
were killed. On May 1, the government initiated ''Operation
Jalisco'' deploying 6,000 military forces, Federal Police (PF),
and prosecutors targeting CJNG. In response, up to 250
CJNG members set up roadblocks with burning vehicles in
25 municipalities, set fire to eleven bank branches and five
petrol stations, and engaged the state forces in four separate
firefights. One police officer and eight cartel members were
killed and 13 people injured. The same day, CJNG brought
down a Cougar EC725 helicopter of the air force using a RPG
and killing six.
Violent encounters took place on a weekly basis in the
northeastern border state of Tamaulipas. Federal troops on
February 4 killed eight people intervening in separate battles
of the rivaling Matamoros and Reynosa factions of CDG along
the highway Matamoros-Reynosa. The arrest of José ''El Gafe''
Hernández Fuentes, presumed head of the Reynosa CDG cell
Los Metros, on April 17, sparked an outburst of violence in
the city. At least six people were killed and five injured
during gun battles in the following nine days.
Michoacán remained a hotspot. PF and the military killed
42 CJNG members during a three-hour-long shootout on a
ranch in the municipality of Tanhuato on May 22. CJNG killed
one police officer. PF confiscated 38 large-calibre weapons
and one grenade launcher. On October 6, the newly-elected
Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo announced to increase the
3,000 deployed PF, military, and marine forces in the state
by 5,000. Similarly, on October 27, Secretary of the Interior
Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong and Guerrero's new Governor
Héctor Astudillo Flores announced to deploy 1,500 federal
security forces to Guerrero as part of a new security strategy.
Despite the vigilantes' formal integration into Rural Defense
Corps (FRE) on 05/10/14, they repeatedly clashed with both
drug cartels and state authorities. In Michoacán, on January
6, at least 300 federal forces regained control of the city hall
in Apatzingán, which had been occupied by vigilantes for
several days. The federal forces opened fire, killing 16 and
arresting 44. On June 23, 17 FRE troops and presumed CJNG
gunmen died in two firefights near Tumbiscatío. After more
than 600 vigilantes of the United Front for the Security and
Development of the State of Guerrero (FUSDEG) occupied the
town of Petaquillas, Guerrero, at least 1,000 military forces
aimed to disarm them. On May 9, around 300 vigilantes
armed with shotguns took control of the municipality of
Chilapa and disarmed 40 municipal policemen of their AR-15
and AR-70 weapons. Rivaling FUSDEG factions clashed in
Xolapa on June 6, leaving 13 vigilantes dead.
In the course of the year, security forces arrested and killed
several cartel leaders. On February 27, the police arrested
Servando ''La Tuta'' Gómez Martínez, leader of LCT, in Morelia,
Michoacán. In a raid on March 4, 50 elements of PF and
marines captured Omar ''Z-42'' Treviño Morales, head of Los
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