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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum yesterday praised the work of the Mexican forces in the operation against CJNG leader ‘El Mencho’ and also sent her condolences to the families of the lost ones:
“I want to make a special recognition to the National Defence, to General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, to the Mexican Army, to the National Guard, to the Air Force – really, Mexico has extraordinary armed forces – they are prepared, professional men and women with a lot of vision and a lot of patriotism, with huge preparation.
“Our condolences to the families of the elements who lost their lives yesterday and our greatest recognition – the people of Mexico must feel very proud of our armed forces and the security cabinets we have here – they are great men and women who are willing to give their lives for others.
“The most important thing at this moment is to guarantee the peace and security of the entire population, of all of Mexico, and this is what is being done – today there is more tranquility, there is government, there are armed forces, there is the cabinet of security, and there is a lot of co-ordination – you can rest assured that peace, security, and normality are being safeguarded in the country.”
Questioned by reporters about the involvement of the US in operations, the President replied: “All the operations are carried out by the federal forces – there is no participation of US forces in the operation – there is a lot of exchange of information, as we have here several times, [but] the understanding with the United States is based mainly on the exchange of intelligence, of information.”
Mexico’s Secretary of National Defence Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said that the Mexican and US Intelligence Services located CJNG leader El Mencho through one of his girlfriends.
“On 20 February, through Central Military Intelligence operations, a trusted individual connected to one of El Mencho’s romantic partners was identified – he transported her to an installation in the town of Tapalpa, Jalisco.
“In that place, she met with El Mencho, and on 21 February, she left the property, and intelligence reports indicated that El Mencho remained at the site – he stayed there with a security circle.
“On February 21st, the planning of the operation was carried out, it is doctrinal, it is an axiom of the military operations carried out by the armed forces around the world that whoever executes the operation is the one who must plan it.
“In this case, it was the personnel of the special forces and personnel of the special forces of immediate reaction of the National Guard who planned the operation,”
Mexico’s Secretary of Security and Civilian Protection Omar Garcia Harfuch commented on the situation too: “85 blockades were registered on Federal Roads of Baja California, State of Mexico, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Zacatecas.
“In Jalisco the largest number of blockades were registered on Federal Roads, 18 – in other entities, events were registered, and isolated blockades were attended to immediately without additional incidents being reported – seventy people were detained in seven states of the Republic.”
Harfuch continued: “In cowardly attacks after the action for the detention of El Mencho, 27 cowardly aggressions against the authorities were registered.
“In Jalisco six aggressions were registered where, tragically, 25 members of the National Police, one prison officer, and one official from the State Attorney General’s Office lost their lives – in these events, at the hands of these cowardly delinquents, a woman also lost her life – thirty people of organised crimes were accounted for; 30 delinquents were killed during the clashes.”
