Municipal police in Cozumel, Quintana Roo, have accused senior officers of mismanagement and threatened to go on strike, moves that have triggered the resignation of the chief of police.

The dissident police accuse the municipality’s public security and traffic department of mismanaging federal funds allocated to the security strengthening program called Fortaseg.

The protesters also demanded new uniforms, the standardization of salaries, the payment of bonuses owed for two years and the dismissal of police chief Raúl Sánchez Martínez and staff under his command who are involved in the alleged mismanagement of funds.

The dissenting officers also demanded to see Mayor Perla Tun Pech, who had pledged to meet similar demands made by the municipal police force in the fall of 2016.

But when Tun arrived at police headquarters and asked the protesters meet her in her office, they refused.

The protest then moved to the street outside the mayor’s office where several patrol cars were used to mount a blockade.

Tun later informed the protesters that she had accepted the resignation of Chief Sánchez and dismissed Fortaseg Cozumel liaison María Yajaira Jiménez Azueta. She added that the municipal police force had already received two sets of uniforms and that two more were coming.

The mayor offered the officers a cash payment of 9,000 pesos (US $475), a similar amount that would be deposited to their retirement funds and 3,000 pesos ($158) in food vouchers.B

But the protesters refused the offer, demanding instead that 18,000 pesos be paid in cash or they would go on an indefinite strike.

Mayor Tun said she has asked for federal intervention, declaring that she can’t meet the officers’ demands if she doesn’t have money to pay for them.

Municipal police in Benito Juárez and Solidaridad, where the resort destinations of Cancún and Playa del Carmen are located, have recently made similar claims of mismanagement of Fortaseg monies.

Source: Diario de Yucatán (sp), Noticaribe (sp)