Guerrero: march in Acapulco against police abuse within operation “Secure Guerrero”

Acapulco (@El siglo de de Torreón)

On 17 October, civil organizations, merchants, transport workers, and students from various institutions marched through the tourist zone of Acapulco to protest “arbitrary actions and abuses” as committed by members of the Federal Police (PF) since the beginning of the operation Secure Guerrero.  In a subsequent rally, participants listed numerous irregularities such as arbitrary detentions, unfounded accusations, illicit impounding of vehicles of transport, and other human-rights violations.

Alfredo Pérez Zarate, president of the College of Penal Lawyers of the state of Guerrero, expressed that “Their arbitrary actions worsen, outside of all regulations and protocol regarding the use of force, and so do grave violations of human rights […].  As a college of penal lawyers, we have counted at least 25 denunciations of irregularities committed by federal police in the port of Acapulco, because it has been 25 the protective motions that have been requested, regarding the arbitrary detentions of youth by police.”

In previous days, upon presenting statistics regarding the period of 8 October 2011 to 6 October 2012, the state government stressed instead that there has been progress in the path toward the recovery of peace, with tangible results, and that groups of organized crime have effectively been debilitated, given the arrest of 355 members of different criminals bands.  However, the statistics also reveal that last year there were 930 violent deaths, and 922 this year, which implies only a decrease of 13%.  The operation “Secure Guerrero” is to be strengthened with the arrival of more federal forces to the regions of Acapulco, Costa Grande, Zona Norte, and Tierra Caliente.

For more information (in Spanish):

Marchan en Acapulco contra abuso policiaco (El Universal, 17 de octubre de 2012)

Refuerzan operativo Guerrero Seguro en 4 zonas (El Universal, 15 de octubre de 2012)

A un año del Guerrero Seguro, bajan las muertes violentas menos de 1%, informan (La Jornada de Guerrero, 9 de octubre de 2012)

Urgen a “focalizar” Guerrero Seguro (El Universal, 8 de octubre de 2012)

For more information from SIPAZ (in English):

Guerrero: President Calderón proceeds with third phase of the “Secure Guerrero” program (5 June 2012)