Cerro Norte, face of insecurity in Uruguay

In this area of ​​Montevideo, the past week has been marked by shootings between criminal gangs fighting over the territorial drug market.

Gunshots were heard, scaring local residents and forcing businesses and institutions, including a school, to close.

According to Interior Minister Nicolás Martinelli, who personally supervised the police operations with the intervention of the Republican Guard, a special task force and helicopter support, the response of the authorities has been “strong”.

Dozens of raids took place in which more than a dozen people, presumably members of two criminal gangs who fought each other with firearms, were made available to the Public Prosecution Service.

Weapons, ammunition and a magazine for an AK-47 rifle were seized, as evidence of the criminal gangs’ firepower.

At the same time, presidential candidates for the October elections are proposing nighttime police operations, an issue that will be put to a referendum on October 27, the date of the first round of the elections. According to the consultancy Opción, 65% of respondents in a recent survey are in favor of this procedure.

jrr/arm/rgh/ool

The post Cerro Norte, face of insecurity in Uruguay appeared first on Prensa Latina.