Tapachula, Chiapas — Mexico’s Military have been carrying out an operation near the international bridge with Guatemala to reduce criminal activities. The Mexican Army began intermittent inspection and surveillance operations in the border strip with Guatemala last week, with priority on highways through which migrants pass.
The soldiers have set up inspection points on the international highway that leads from the Talismán border port to Tapachula, where they have placed signs to reduce speed so they can visually inspect the vehicle interiors.
According to personnel from the 36th Military Zone, the operations are part of a security strategy to reduce criminal acts as well as the illegal trafficking of people that has been ongoing in southern Chiapas.
The officers focus more on collective service motor vehicles, as well as suspicious vehicles that have tinted windows, which have been known used in the transfer of offenders.
The military have joined forces with the National Guard, which maintains a review operation in the municipality of Frontera Hidalgo, where personnel from the National Migration Institute (INM) also operate.
Inspection tasks also extend to other federal roads in the Soconusco region such as Huixtla and Huehuetán, where incidents of insecurity are often recorded and federal intervention, required.
The stepped up security along the southern border is also in response to resident requests who ask for security inspections to be carried out on the border strip with Guatemala. The business sector has also applauded these surveillance tasks.
These types of security operations have not been carried out for more than two years despite the fact that on different occasions, criminal activity was on the rise in that region of the state.
