ghost towns
New security measures, not yet detailed, allowed exports to resume. The Army had already entered Aguililla in early February, before the inspector’s incident, without using force.
Since then, the military has patrolled several municipalities in Michoacán among the traces of traffickers: bullet holes, barricades and graffiti with the acronym “CJNG” on walls, now varnished blue.
The criminals also left home-made mines, a practice hitherto unusual in Mexico and that reflects the escalation of drug violence to which most of the 2,732 homicides recorded in Michoacán in 2021 are attributed.
In mid-February, one of those explosives killed a 79-year-old man. Some 250 mines have been located during the deployment, military officials told the AFP during a demo to turn them off.
In the hamlets of Aguililla, with 14,000 inhabitants, few people are seen and at times they look like ghost towns suffocated by temperatures of almost 40 degrees. Some residents who show up to get some air shy away from talking to the press. Those who agree, fearful, express their hope that the Army will stay.
“Hopefully and that there is peace, that peace comes and this does not arise later,” a middle-aged man who avoids giving his name told AFP. Some skeptics believe that the criminals are just waiting in the wings for the Army to leave.
