The Sonora attorney general and state security secretary resigned yesterday in the wake of the assassinations of five police officers in Guaymas on Thursday and the execution of a sixth yesterday morning in Hermosillo.

Rodolfo Montes de Oca Mena had been attorney general since Governor Carla Pavlovich Arellano was sworn in in September 2015.

Montes de Oca presented his resignation letter before the local Congress and the governor’s office, writing that he was thankful for the opportunity he had to serve the state, and that he always performed with professionalism, integrity, and a strict adherence to legality.

Aurelio Cuevas Altamirano is now acting attorney general.

Ramón Mancilla Macedo has been named head of the Public Security Secretariat, replacing Adolfo García Morales.

Earlier yesterday, municipal police officer José Omar Nevárez was executed in Hermosillo while traveling in his own vehicle. The officer was off duty and wearing plainclothes at the time of his death.

His killers gave themselves away by breaking the speed limit in the north of the city and failing to stop when ordered by traffic police. A chase ensued, ending with the arrest of five men in possession of five firearms.

The representative of the federal Attorney General’s office in Sonora, Darío Figueroa Navarro, announced that a series of search warrants has been issued to locate and identify criminal elements.

He explained that the groups operate in southern Sonora in the municipalities of Navojoa, Ciudad Obregón, Empalme and Guaymas, and that some “have been fully identified.”

“There evidently was a multiple execution, completely atypical here in Sonora . . .” he said after a meeting with Guaymas Mayor Sara Valle Dessens yesterday.

Later that day, Valle and some 150 people, mostly municipal employees, participated in a peace march on the streets of Guaymas. The numbers were smaller than expected, according to one report, as citizens were fearful of exposing themselves to danger.

Source: Milenio (sp)