Zacatecas, December 19.- This Sunday afternoon, the state experienced a new surge in violence with armed clashes and the installation of narco-blockades, caused by alleged members of organized crime, who used stolen vehicles from motorists and transporters, several of which they set on fire and also dispersed tire-puncturing devices, in at least nine municipalities of the state: Fresnillo, Calera, Enrique Estrada, Genaro Codina, Guadalupe, Ojocaliente, Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Pánfilo Natera and Trancoso.
The criminal acts prompted an intense mobilization of public security forces—State Police, Metropolitan Police, Investigative Police, National Guard, and the Mexican Army—along various highways. They, with the support of at least two helicopters, are conducting patrols to try to locate and arrest those responsible.
The incidents
The first incident was reported around 1:30 p.m. this Sunday in the city of Fresnillo, on the highway leading to the community of Plateros, right next to the military base where the Mexican Army's 97th Infantry Battalion is based.
At that point on the highway, which connects to the religious-tourist center of the Niño de Atocha sanctuary, organized crime groups stole three cars, firing shots in the air and forcing people passing by to stop, setting fire to the vehicles, presumably to prevent the militia from rapidly deploying to the eastern part of the municipality.
Almost simultaneously, at another point southeast of the city of Fresnillo, on Interstate 60, which connects to the rural community of Estación San José, another group of gunmen carried out a similar action, burning two motor vehicles.
Meanwhile, northwest of Fresnillo, on Federal Highway 44, which leads to the municipality of Valparaíso, armed individuals hijacked a Rojos de los Altos bus and blocked its traffic near the intersection with the communities of México Nuevo and San Jerónimo.
