The people, the first filter: the suspicion of the Yucatecan, key to maintaining security in the entity

Citizen surveillance, control of urban growth and timely detection of money laundering are key to avoiding the deterioration of peace and tranquility in Yucatán, he highlighted Manelich Castilla Craviottoconsultant in public safety.

In an interview about first year of government of Morena and Joaquín Díaz Mena in matters of public safetyof which yesterday we published the first part, the former national commissioner of the missing Federal Police highlighted the main situations that the current state administration must address to maintain peace and social tranquility for a long time.

In priority is the order in urban growth. That is, the State Police You should know who is coming to the state, who is building big projects, if they are complying with local laws.

He Control of urban and population growth is vital. “And why is it important? Because Yucatan “It is an example of how society generates control over its security conditions.”

“Yucatecans are still very fond of asking who those people are that they don’t know, they try to get to know new people in their neighborhoods and See if they have any criminal ties. come some rare last name and verify if they are not linked to someone from somewhere else.”

“They are attentive to where these unknown people are going to study and where they are going to live. All these details allow them to know when something is getting out of control.”

The interviewee believes that natural suspicion of the Yucatecan It is a form of control that helps the effective public security.

Therefore, we must not lose sight of urban growth and order. Know what is being done in the ports with the development of many real estate companies, avoid things that can truly decompose coexistence in the medium term and give a different nuance to the tranquility that is enjoyed now.

Urban growth

“One of the situations that the government must address as a priority is absolute control over this urban and population growth,” he noted.

“If we lose that guideline of urban growth and cgeneral growth of Yucatánnot only the part of Mérida and the metropolitan area, but the entire state, there will be problems.”

“The second priority is to emphasize collaboration with neighboring states, particularly with Quintana Roo, because we know the complexity of the crime that this neighboring state faces and it is very different from that of Yucatán,” recommended the former commissioner.

“The State Police should never allow Yucatán to be their backyard where the people who are looking to commit a crime in tourist centers as important as those of the state of Quintana Rooalso affect the state.”

“The irregular acquisition of ranches, money laundering, the circulation of dirty money in the state’s economy. These types of issues can only be achieved with collaboration, with communication, with the exchange of relevant objectives in terms of security,” he said. “That cannot be lost sight of.”

“He Third priority point is coordination with the Federation. Not because it is a state governed by same match (Morena) and? see that Yucatán is a relatively calm and peaceful state, stop counting on the support of the federal forces or in everything that is the responsibility of the federal government,” he said.

There is a long list of highly dangerous criminals identified and detained by the police and military forces, why do they come to take refuge here?

“Because of the tranquility that the state offers them. If in some other place they have to be with armored trucks, accompanied by convoys or hitmen to move from one place to another, in Yucatán it does not happen because they would immediately be detected, it is something that breaks with the harmony and everyday image,” he explained.

“A convoy with these characteristics enters Yucatán, and they are immediately detected. You know, how many people are going to see them and report them.”

Manelich Castilla recognized that There are many arrests of leaders of criminal groups hidden in the entity. Fortunately, they are arrests that occur, although they break Yucatecan harmony, and unfortunately they generate concern among the people. However, getting them out of Yucatán is good and as long as it continues to happen, as long as there is that possibility of building from society, from the institutions, to obtain this strategic information, to not feel comfortable with the uncomfortable neighbor, that easy, and for the Yucatecan to defend his sociability and his customs, security will have a great ally.

“With this way of being of the Yucatecan, any organized criminal who intends to lead a criminal life in Yucatán will clearly know that it is not the place for them,” he reiterated.

It is striking that the arrests of these characters are without serious violence, without murders or crossfire. Do you think there is well-planned intelligence work and a safe strategy to reach them and detain them?

“Exactly, and that is why I am referring to it, unlike other states where these criminal leaders have to be surrounded by different security circles. If they use it in Yucatán, they would be easily detected, those are the benefits that the state has in terms of security,” he said.

“Let’s imagine that a large armored vehicle suddenly circulates on Paseo de Montejo without license plates and with three trucks in the back, also without license plates, with 10 armed individuals. Who won’t see them? I think that’s what they are betting on. They don’t have the need to armor themselves like in other places and they take advantage of the tranquility to settle their families, to buy properties.”

“That could be the reason for the many arrests that have occurred. At least the ones that I had as commissioner of the Federal Police at the time, had to do with the fact that they were dangerous criminals in other entities and were there looking to rest.”

Note that a revealing and worrying data from Inegi places Yucatán among the states with the highest huachicol seizures. This type of crime had never occurred, if anything, before 3 or 4 leaks were discovered in the gas pipeline from Mérida to Progreso, but the National Guard seized 1.7 million liters of fuel in 2024 and a few days ago, in Seyé they seized another 100,000 liters of diesel, what is happening?

“It is one of the most interesting questions. Let’s go in parts, the phenomenon of hydrocarbon theft Today it is among the activities of organized crime,” he said.

“We must differentiate how many of these seizures or this amount were extracted in the state and how many were passing through transit. That is very important.”

“The irregular sale of fuel has always existed. I have childhood memories of going to buy gasoline at home with jugs to put in the boats. There was no service station, there was no gas station. Who sold the diesel? Who sold everything? Whoever had it in their house. Where did they get it from? Who knows. So there were situations that at the time solved a problem, but later they were very lucrative.”

“You have to take this indicator very calmly, you have to differentiate how much of that fuel is extracted there, how much is passing through and What are the interests of the criminal agenda of Yucatán“, he stressed. “The racketeering Today he lives on many things, but particularly, obviously, on sale of drugs, weapons, human trafficking and isI believe that among these figures, fuel theft and marketingin that order. Perhaps in some places fuel theft and its sale compete with drugs.”

“It is more lucrative (huachicol) and less risky for many to sell stolen gasoline.” “We have to risk putting certain doses of drugs on the market,” he explained.

“That’s what I mean by the criminal evolution, which was highlighted in the first part of the published interview. We must be very aware of what the criminal agenda is in Yucatán. It seems to me that it is an issue that deserves follow-up and that those responsible for the security and justice enforcement agencies themselves should have that possibility of exchanging information and communicating to the people, informing what the reality is.”

Geography of Yucatan

“Our geography helps us a lot, we are a plain, the quadrant system that exists in the city helps us a lot, it helps us a lot to have well-defined and very fixed road points to all latitudes of the state,” the interviewee stressed. “I think we are privileged in that sense and this is used by criminals to also come to rest, to try to go unnoticed, and that is why the intelligence tasks of the security cabinet detect them and arrests are made in Yucatán.”

“I am convinced that Yucatecans, when they propose to unite in any cause, are always above the circumstances,” he emphasized. “I think that unity is something that very few can boast of at the national level.”

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