Arya News - President Bernardo Arévalo ordered military presence to be tripled after a series of incidents along the Guatemala-Mexico border involving a cartel..
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzman is arrested by Mexican marines in February 2014. He is the former leader of the Sinaloa cartel. Photo courtesy of PGR/Mexican Federal Government
Dec. 11 (UPI) -- After a series of incidents along the Guatemala-Mexico border in which suspected members of the Sinaloa cartel attacked several communities and clashed with Guatemalan troops, President Bernardo Arévalo ordered military presence in the area to be tripled.
The move aims to protect Guatemala"s territorial sovereignty and the safety of residents in border communities after an armed group crossed from Mexico into several Guatemalan towns to attack rivals from other cartels competing for territory.
Arévalo said he has called for strengthening the armed forces" presence to prevent any incursions by the cartels and has begun coordinating with Mexico"s Secretariat of National Defense to conduct operations from the Mexican side of the border, the newspaper Prensa Libre reported.
In recent days, residents of Guatemalan border communities have reported attacks involving high-powered weapons, burned vehicles and direct threats amid a territorial dispute between the Sinaloa cartel and rival organizations that operate between Chiapas and northwestern Guatemala.
The alleged incursion by the Sinaloa cartel into Guatemala in the early hours Monday left one person dead and a Guatemalan soldier injured , according to authorities in the Central American country.
The attack was reportedly part of an offensive against the Chiapas and Guatemala cartel, a splinter group linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, escalating the fight for control of drug trafficking routes in the border region, the digital outlet El Debate reported.
A report from Guatemala"s National Police documented the discovery of weapons and a drone in the area, confirming that these groups are using unmanned aerial devices for surveillance and to drop explosives, the newspaper SOY502 reported.
The Guatemalan government confirmed the deployment of additional troops and coordination with Mexico to contain the movements after the incursions sparked fear in rural communities and forced some families to flee.
The border region between Mexico and Guatemala, a key corridor for drug, weapons and migrant smuggling, has become a critical flashpoint where cartels cross between countries to fight for control of trafficking routes, pressuring both states as they try to reassert territorial authority in a historically vulnerable area.
The Sinaloa cartel -- one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the Americas -- and its former leader, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, convicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges, have long been accused of expanding drug trafficking and violence in the region.