The daughter of a top police commander of Jimenez de Teul municipality in extreme western Zacatecas state was among those identified as killed in a shootout with Mexican security forces ten days ago, according to Mexican news accounts.

Maraa Consuelo Argumedo Recendiz, 23, was killed April 17th when a joint patrol of Mexican Army troops and Zacatecas state police agents exchanged gunfire with armed suspects, killing five. Argumedo Recendiz was the daughter of Jimenez de Teul Policia Preventitiva director Rosalio Argumedo Montes, who resigned along with three others when four of his charges were kidnapped by an organized crime group April 4th.

Earlier Mexican press reports referred to a total of ten kidnapped from the municipality, which would track with totals of the April 4th abductions and the disappearance of the first four municipal police agents.

Since that time Jimenez de Teul has been without a police presence.  Mexican Army and Zacatecas state police have been patrolling the municipality.  No word has been received from the state Fiscalia General de Estado or from other state officials about when a police presence will return to the municipality.  The absence has been described in Mexican press as a crisis since a number of competing criminal groups operate in the border area with Durango state.  Other Zacatecas municipalities currently with no police presence include Florencia de Benito Juarez, El Plateado de Joaquin Amaro and Tepetongo municipalities.

The five unidentified individuals who were kidnapped by an armed group included a Jimenez de Teul Polica Preventativa who reportedly attempted to intercept the group.  Reports at the time said that the five victims had been taken to Durango state.

A version of this column originally appeared in www.borderlandbeat.com.

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