A new security force has started operating in Juchitán, Oaxaca, as a pilot program after the murder of an election candidate and two others on Saturday in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec city.

Governor Alejandro Murat Hinojosa announced that the 500-member Special Security Force Oaxaca began operating yesterday in the isthmus region. It consists of personnel from the army, navy, Federal Police, the Center for Investigation and National Security, the Attorney General’s office and state officials from the Secretariat of Public Security, the Attorney General’s office and the Interior Secretariat.

The new force was created the day after Pamela Terán Pineda, a candidate for municipal council in Juchitán, was assassinated.

She died along with a photographer and her driver as they were leaving a bar in the city center.

Federal crime data has ranked the municipality as the ninth most violent in the country.

Murat said the Special Security Force Oaxaca is a single-command force that will start operating from Juchitán but be capable of traveling to other parts of the state “to recover the peace.”

The message is clear, he continued, explaining that there will be zero tolerance toward organized crime.

At least 1,000 people attended yesterday’s funeral procession for Terán, a doctor by profession, and a community activist who worked on behalf of the indigenous community and founded and directed two community organizations, Despierta Juchitán and Fundación Meraki.

Source: El Universal (sp)