After multiple deployments of troops to Mazatlán over the summer to combat the port and resort city’s escalating cartel-related violence, the federal government has taken a new approach by forming an elite Special Operations Group comprising 29 highly trained Defense Ministry soldiers who will operate within the municipal police department.

The most recent security reinforcement comes during a wave of homicides, armed attacks and explosive-based assaults across the city that led municipal Public Security Minister Gabino Ulises Jacobo Guerrero to urge the public to exercise extra caution between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m., the time period with the highest rate of criminal activity.

The elite force members are said to be highly skilled in night work, explosives handling, parachuting, sharpshooting and urban operations. They will be equipped with armored vehicles, weaponry, reconnaissance drones and technology to detect threats posed by unmanned aircraft. 

During a ceremony Monday introducing the Special Operations Group at the Citizen Security Center, municipal Public Security Minister Sinuhé Téllez López explained that this addition stems from agreements reached during a visit by the federal Security Cabinet on Sept. 18. The deployment aims to strengthen coordination among the institutions responsible for addressing insecurity.

Mazatlán Mayor Estrella Palacios Domínguez added that its members will utilize intelligence and investigative work to carry out precision interventions.

In another security move, the City Council provided, at a cost of more than 457,000 pesos (US $25,437), 50 bicycles to Army and National Guard members to bolster preventive patrols in the coastal area, the Historic Center and tourist and commercial areas where vehicle access is difficult. 

“These are bicycles designed for preventive patrolling, enabling soldiers and National Guard members to efficiently monitor the coastal area and the Historic Center,” Estrella said. 

Minister Guerrero addressed a video showing armed men allegedly heading toward the port, though he clarified that its authenticity, date and destination had not been confirmed. Therefore, he said the recording does not constitute evidence of an incursion.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t happen, but if it does, well, we’ll be here waiting for them,” Guerrero said.

With reports from Debate, Uno TV and Grupo Animal