Residents repel forces after fuel facility found in a town of Guanajuato

269 According to Mexico News Daily, an anti-fuel theft operation in Guanajuato on Tuesday Jan. 29, triggered a hostile response from residents who attempted to repel security forces with fiery blockades. Around 200 members of the army, navy and Federal Police carried out an operation in the municipality of Villagrán that resulted in the seizure of at least 24 tanker trucks filled with gasoline, seven trailers and 5,000 liters of stolen fuel, all of which were found on a property in the community of San Salvador Torrecillas. Angry residents responded to the raid by placing barricades at the entrance to the small town of Santa Rosa de Lima to prevent the security forces from reaching an illegal gas station.

The mask-wearing, stick-wielding residents who, according to municipal police, are complicit with fuel thieves, claimed that the authorities didn’t have a search warrant to enter the property where the stolen fuel and vehicles were seized. Other residents set up a blockade made of burning tires on the Celaya-Juventino Rosas highway and set at least four vehicles on fire on other roads in order to block access to Villagrán.

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In Celaya, which adjoins Villagrán to the east, a group of individuals stopped a bus at around 7:00pm and forced the driver and 10 passengers to get off before they set the vehicle on fire. The same individuals also forced the occupants of a car to get out after which they riddled it with bullets. Authorities didn’t report any arrests in relation to the anti-fuel theft operation or the response by residents, while local officials said the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, led by José Antonio “El Marro” Yepez, operates in the Villagrán-Celaya area. Source: Mexico News Daily