Taxco Mayor Juan Andrés Vega Carranza was kidnapped this Monday while attempting to negotiate the release of his father, Dr. Juan Vega Arredondo. The Morena party official was intercepted in the Casahuate neighborhood, a strategic area providing access to the municipalities of Tetipac and Pilcaya.
Federal sources confirmed that the mayor attended a meeting to address his father's situation, after the doctor had been abducted by armed men last Saturday. Although the mayor was traveling with an escort, the kidnappers managed to abduct him and take him to an unknown location.
Security Force Deployment
The Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) has announced a multi-agency operation involving more than 500 personnel from all levels of government. The deployment includes state and federal security forces, with both ground and air presence.
“In response to the kidnapping of Dr. Juan Vega Arredondo and the disappearance of Architect Juan Andrés Vega Carranza, an inter-institutional operation involving security forces from all three levels of government was deployed today,” the Defense Ministry stated in a press release.
Search efforts are being carried out by Army and National Guard units from Guerrero, Morelos, and the State of Mexico. The operation also includes National Guard aircraft, State Police, and personnel from the Guerrero State Attorney General's Office.
The operation is concentrated in Taxco de Alarcón and its surrounding areas, with orders to maintain a permanent presence until both men are located. Authorities are maintaining heavy surveillance in the area, which is considered a stronghold for the La Familia Michoacana criminal organization.
The case began Saturday morning when armed men intercepted Dr. Juan Vega Arredondo on the Taxco–Cuernavaca highway near the community of Los Pocitos. The 68-year-old physician, director of the “Adolfo Prieto” IMSS Bienestar Hospital, was traveling in a white Volkswagen Jetta when he was approached by the assailants.
The doctor's vehicle was located midday Sunday near the community of Acamixtla, but the whereabouts of both men remain unknown.
