MEXICAN STATE POLICE USING DRONES TO FIGHT CARTELS

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, today we're going to be looking at the Mexican
police in Chiapas have unveiled now that they're using armed
drones to combat cartels. Police in the southern Mexican state
are using now armed drones that they say will better
position them against the cartels buying for control for the board.
With Watamala frequently outgunned by cartels with heavy guns and

(00:21):
increasingly with drones that drop improvised explosive devices, Mexican authorities
are trying to catch up. Concerningly, the same Chiapa State
police force generated international diplomatic incident earlier in the month
when they pursued alleged gunmen into Guatemala, engaging in an
extended shootout in the streets of border town Lama Silla.
The drones could be equipped to carry guns or fight fires.

(00:44):
He did not explain what the rules of engagement would
be for police using an arm drone if photos shared
by authorities of a demonstration showed a drone with a
semi automatic rifle mounted below it. In other states, like
metre Con, police have begun experimenting with ways of combating
cartel drones that drop explosives they try to dam signals
or fire nets to drop them from the sky. Chappas

(01:06):
has struggled in the past couple of years with competition
between Mexico's two most powerful cartels, Sinaloa and Cartel Jalisco,
as they fight for control of lucrative smuggling routes along
the Watermelon border. The state has been seen The state
has seen mass displacements of people, including hundreds who fled
into Watermolo to escape cartel violence. The new state government's
answer has been strengthening the police force to be more

(01:28):
involved in security responsibilities, but recently a member of the
state police special forces known as the Pacals, turned whistleblowers,
saying that other members of the force were corrupt and
working with the organized crime. Human rights groups have questioned
the bolstering of the state police, saying that the success
authorities claimed could really be the result of militarization of
the region more than anything else. So we see a

(01:50):
big fight there with cartels and the Mexican police down
in the south trying to buy for control of that border.