National Guard carries out training with field errors

SANTA GERTRUDIS, Chihuahua.

Elements of the National Guard carried out two operations in the town of La Cofradía, located in this community, to capture leaders of organized crime groups, the Los Coyotes gang and the Pacific Cartel.

The balance of the first was white. A quick raid on the streets of the town, following intelligence work, allowed us to locate the whereabouts of the criminal leader.

In the capture of the leader of Los Coyotes, not a single shot was fired, a National Guard helicopter descended to remove him quickly and the reaction of his henchmen was effectively contained.

But in the second operation, the reaction of the members of organized crime was different, the attacks on the elements of the federal corporation included bursts of heavy caliber weapons, even 50 caliber weapons.

There were also explosives, a car bomb that was neutralized with the support of a special container known as The Pot; almost hand-to-hand confrontations.

To confront the criminals, helicopters and gunships from the Air Force, as well as the Army, had to intervene.

The objective was achieved, but the balance was not favorable, on the GN side there were injuries and a couple of casualties, and calm was restored in La Cofradía.

1,740 members of the National Guard participated in both operations, 180 of them women, with the support of 174 vehicles, 9 of them armored; as well as six helicopters, five UH60 models and one MI17.

The actions were part of the Final Exercise of the Fourth and Fifth training phases of the Joint Group “Bicentennial of the Heroic Military College”, which was carried out at the National Training Center, at Military Field number 42-A General of Division Francisco Villa, in this municipality of Chihuahua.

The exercises were witnessed by the head of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), General Luis Cresencio Sandoval González,

National Guard inspector Margarito Horacio Mendoza Cruz explained that these exercises are structured based on the experience that the elements have had, in different operations, which is why errors are included.