The entire police force of a small town in Mexico’s violence-plagued state of Michoacan has been arrested in connection with the murder of a mayoral candidate last week.
All 27 officers — plus the chief — in the town of Ocampo were “detained for internal affairs investigation” to determine whether “anyone has taken part in acts that violate the town’s codes,” state prosecutors said Sunday.
Although investigators did not specifically mention a murder investigation, local media drew a connection between the arrests and the killing of Fernando Angeles Juarez, a candidate for Ocampo mayor who was gunned down outside his home on June 21. Angeles, a successful businessman with little political experience, had been critical of deep-seated corruption in the local government.
After Angeles’ murder, state authorities immediately suspected involvement on the part of Oscar González García, Ocampo’s police chief. When state officers attempted to detain Gonzalez for questioning, they were driven from the town in a “hail of bullets” by the Ocampo cops, reported El Universal, citing sources in the state prosecutor’s office.
State police returned to Ocampo with reinforcements on Sunday morning and arrested Gonzalez and all his officers. Images and video from the operation circulated on local media, showing dozens of rifle-toting state police officers rounding up the local cops as what sounds like gunshots ring out in the background.
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Gonzalez and the Ocampo officers have been taken to Michoacan’s capital, Morelia, for questioning before an internal affairs office. Like many local law enforcement personnel in Mexico, they are suspected of links to organized crime and drug trafficking groups. (RELATED: 2017 Was Mexico’s Deadliest Year In Two Decades)
At least 100 officeholders and political candidates have been murdered across Mexico in the run-up to national elections on July 1. Angeles was reportedly the third candidate to be killed in Michoacan in just over a week.
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