FBIS3-10451
"drlat045_c_94002"
FBIS-LAT-94-045
Document Type:Daily Report
8 Mar 1994
MEXICO
Weekend Shoot-Out Leaves Three Police Dead
PA0803031094 Mexico City Radio ACIR Network in Spanish 0000
GMT 8 Mar 94
PA0803031094
Mexico City Radio ACIR Network
Language: Spanish
Article Type:BFN
[Telephone report by Baltazar Jimenez, reporter for EL SOL
DE CHILPANCINGO newspaper, in Chilpancingo, Guerrero State; from
the "ACIR Radio News" newscast]
[Text] [Announcer] We reported to you at the start of this
cast that three Guerrero State public security policemen were
gunned down by shotgun fire and six others are seriously
wounded. They were ambushed in the pre-dawn hours today [as
heard] by a dangerous gang of criminals who operate in the
Xapotitlan, Tablas Municipality, located high up in the
mountains, according to information supplied by Manuel Noreno
Gonzalez, chief of Guerrero State public security. Good
afternoon, Baltazar.
[Jimenez] Good afternoon.
[Announcer] Baltazar, what happened this morning?
[Jimenez] According to a note by reporter Alfredo Guzman,
several public security patrols were ambushed yesterday by
excited villagers who were annoyed because several poppy
plantations were destroyed. Three policemen were killed in the
incident. Each received more than 15 shots in addition to the
coup d'grace. The disturbances took place in the Atlixtlac
Municipality. Alejandrino Campo Lezma, regional public security
commander in Tlapa de Comonfort told the Prosecutor General's
Office authorities that Saturday [as heard] night at about 0400,
it was decided to carry out a patrol between the village of
(Zaltizagua) and Oxtoepec, Atlixtlac Municipality. Campo said
that two patrols made up of 10 men in one and seven in the
other, began walking at night and on the way found several poppy
plantations, which they destroyed. The commander said that the
plantations measured 10 meters by 20 meters and they found one
or two every kilometer.
In his statement it was established that it was about 2000
on
Saturday night when they heard several rifle shots and the
policemen hid as best they could under trees. They ran until
they reached Oxtoepec. There they made a head count and found
that three were missing. They immediately spoke with the
village police chief who promised to intercede with the alleged
attackers to allow the policemen to look for their three
companions who had disappeared in the shoot-out.
The commander stated that while speaking with the village
police chief he saw several armed persons who arrived behind
them and spoke in a dialect. After several minutes of
negotiation, the armed persons allowed a search for the three
missing public security policemen. The villagers in Oxtoepec
allowed 10 policemen to enter, but only unarmed, to search for
their companions. The bullet- riddled bodies were found at the
clash site. The dead policemen were each missing their AR-15
rifles and their three spare clips.
The searchers say that they found no less than 70 heavily
armed persons who threatened to shoot and kill them. [Words
indistinct] who moments before had negotiated their entry, so
the policemen were not harmed.
Yesterday at about 1900 a telephone call was received at the
Chipalcingo coroner's office, telling them to prepare to receive
more bodies, because seemingly another clash had taken place,
causing the death of several public security policemen in
several villages near Axtlistac Municipality. Lastly, this was
not confirmed.
[Announcer] This is one of the most tangled areas of the
Guerrero mountains?
[Jimenez] Yes, of course.
[Announcer] It is one of the more distant areas?
[Jimenez] Yes. The dead policemen are Second Commander
Bertoldo Flores Radilla, Second Commander Artemio Salmeron
Quinonez, and Armando Luna Venancio. Their bodies were claimed
by their relatives and transferred to their places of origin.
There is no information whether any arrests have been made
because as it is Sunday there were no public security spokesmen
to report what would be done and what action would be taken to
arrest the guilty.
[Announcer] Baltazar, the bodies are already in
Chilpancingo?
[Jimenez] This is not yet known.