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Latinnews Daily - 08 February 2018

Concerns about DTO presence in Mexico City intensify

Development: On 7 February the local authorities in Mexico City (CDMX) said that they were investigating the appearance of banners supposedly put up by the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) drug trafficking organisation (DTO) in the capital this week.

Significance: The appearance of so-called ‘narcomantas’ signed by the CJNG has raised concerns that the DTO has now established itself in the national capital. This is a problem for the local and federal governments, which have long held up the national capital as a ‘safe haven’ from the organised crime-related violence that currently afflicts large parts of the country due to the fact that major DTOs have not been able to establish a presence there. The concerns that CDMX may now also become a hotspot of drug-trafficking related violence could lead to the issue becoming a hot topic ahead of the 1 July general election.

  • The narcomantas began appearing in the Alvaro Obregón CDMX borough earlier this week. They contained messages alluding to the CJNG’s arrival in the national capital and its intention to “compete” with the drug trafficking gang led by ‘El H’. They also accuse the local and federal authorities of having struck some sort of deal with El H to allow him to freely operate in CDMX.
  • Yesterday the head of the CDMX government, Miguel Angel Mancera, said that the local and federal authorities were now investigating the appearance of the narcomantas. Mancera insisted that while minor drug trafficking gangs (narcomenudistas) are present in CDMX, the authorities have no evidence of any large DTOs being present in the capital. However, Mancera said that he had met the federal interior minister, Alfonso Navarrete, to discuss the appearance of the narcomantas and that they agreed to launch a joint investigation.
  • Mancera’s remarks were backed by the national security commissioner, Renato Sales Heredia. He said that the federal government has no information about any major DTO with operations in CDMX and only of minor groups such as the Cartel de Tláhuac narcomenudista gang, which operated in the CDMX borough of Tláhuac and was recently dismantled by the security forces.

Looking Ahead: Sales confirmed that the federal attorney general’s office (PGR) and its CDMX counterpart (PGJCDMX) were now investigating the appearance of the narcomantas and their provenance. However, in a sign that the matter may become a major electoral issue, the CDMX gubernatorial candidate of the federally ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Mikel Arriola, said that in recent years “criminality has become a serious problem in CDMX” and that if the increase in drug trafficking activity in the capital is not addressed, “we will face a security crisis”.

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