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TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — Police in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas unveiled a fleet of armed drones Tuesday that they say will better position them against the heavily armed drug cartels vying for control of their border with Guatemala.
Frequently outgunned by cartels with heavy guns and increasingly with drones that drop improvised explosive devices, Mexican authorities are trying to catch up.
Concerningly, the same Chiapas state police force generated an international diplomatic incident earlier this month when they pursued alleged gunmen into neighboring Guatemala, engaging in an extended shootout in the streets of border town La Mesilla.
The drones could be equipped to carry guns or to fight fires, said Chiapas Security Secretary Óscar Aparicio Avendaño. He did not explain what the rules of engagement would be for police using an armed drone.
A photo shared by authorities of a demonstration showed a drone with a semiautomatic rifle mounted below it.
In other states like Michoacan, police have begun experimenting with ways of combatting cartel drones that drop explosives. They try to jam signals or fire nets to drop them from the sky.
Chiapas has struggled in the past couple years with competition between Mexico’s two most powerful cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, as they fight for control of lucrative smuggling routes along the Guatemalan border for drugs, migrants and guns.
The state has seen mass displacements of people, including hundreds who fled into Guatemala to escape cartel violence last year.
The new state government’s answer has been strengthening the police force to be more involved in security responsibilities previously handed to the military.
But recently, a member of the state police special forces, known as the Pakals, turned whistleblower, saying that other members of the force were corrupt and working with organized crime. A commander was fired and an investigation is ongoing.
Human rights groups have questioned the bolstering of the state police, saying that the success authorities claim could really be the result of militarization of the region rather than any dismantling of drug cartels.
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