A heavily armed commando under the orders of a drug cartel ambushed a convoy of state police pick-ups Monday afternoon near the village of Soyatan on the Mascota-Puerto Vallarta highway, causing the deaths of 15 officers – 14 men and one woman.
According to State Public Security Commissioner Alejandro Solorio, "a large number of assailants" blocked the path of the convey with burning vehicles before firing at the police officers with high-calibre weapons.
Five officers survived the attack and are hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees.
The officers, part of Jalisco's elite Fuerza Unica Regional (FUR) first-response unit, had little time to react to the ambush, noted a police department bulletin issued hours after the attack.
That same day, gunmen allegedly linked to the same cartel kidnapped and murdered the police commander of Zacoalco de las Torres, Miguel Angel Caicedo Vargas. His body was discovered Monday evening together with a threatening note directed at Jalisco authorities.
The FUR press bulletin acknowledged that both attacks were carried out by the Cartel Jalisco Nuevo Generacion in response to the death of Heriberto Acevedo Cardenas ("El Gringo"), who was killed in a shootout with state police officers on March 23 in Zacoalco, a municipality located 20 miles to the west of Guadalajara.
The Puerto Vallarta highway was closed off for many hours following Monday's deadly ambush, prompting many travelers to return to their points of origin.
Soyatan is situated in the municipality of San Sebastian de Oeste, about 55 kilometers from Puerto Vallarta.
The incident represents the biggest single loss suffered by the FUR since the force was created last year.
The officers who died have been named as Debi Almeida Hernández, Jesús Adrián Chávez Hernández, Valente Chávez Hernández, Jesús Alberto Chávez Rodríguez, Bonifacio Velázquez Díaz, Gerardo Rojas Soto, Juan Carlos Cázares López, Ricardo de Jesús Uribe Niño, Juan Antonio Nolasco Reynaga, Pedro Oliveros Rosa, Gilberto Aguilar García, Gerardo Hernández Padilla, Ramón Águila Espejo, Rosendo Fregoso Ramírez and Rigoberto Murillo Prieto.
The Fuerza Unica
The Fuerza Unica Regional consists of around 1,400 officers and 200 vehicles of various types. Units are stationed in 19 regional headquarters in the state of Jalisco, each with their sphere of influence.
In March last year, Jalisco Attorney General Carlos Najera told the Guadalajara Reporter that the Fuerza Unica’s fleets of five patrol cars carrying ten officers would be able “to deal with any kind of risky occurrence.”
He stressed the huge difference between these convoys and the run-of-the-mill single municipal patrol that “usually carries two officers on board.”
Fuerza Unica officers have been selected for their abilities from local police forces. They earn 15,000 pesos a month ($US1,000) – a good salary compared with most other police corporations.
According to Najera, officers in the special response unit are mostly deployed for high-impact crimes, having the correct skills to engage heavily armed criminals, work in hostage situations and make high-profile arrests.