UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION PAPER ON SAN PEDRO LIMON TLATLAYA INCIDENT BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT BLUF U The Govemment of Mexico has detained and charged seven SERENA personnel in conjunction with the killing of twenty-two individuals on 30 June 2014 in San Pedro Limon Tlatlaya Mexico State_ The unit implicated is now ineligible to receive US assistance and none of the alleged perpetrators previously received US-funded training This incident has received extensive negative coverage in international press and along with subsequent cases involving police has prompted non-governmental organizations to lobby the US legislature to suspend security assistance to Mexico INCIDENT U SEDENA members of the 120nd infantry Battalion stationed in Santa Maria Ixtapan responded to an anonymous cal in the early morning of 30 June regarding the presence of armed suspects at a warehouse in Tlatlaya A firefight ensued between the military and the civillans on site suspected to be memberi of the Guerreros Unidos Cartel According to the Mexican Attorney General PGR one soldier was wounded during the confrontation and ali 22 of the civillans were either killed or wounded Four soldiers are accused of entering the warehouse alter the conclusion of the firefight and killing aN remaining civillans Evidence indicates up to fifteen of the twenty two civilians were killed alter the firefight and prosecutions are focused on these killings STATUS W FF In accordance with Mexico's 2014 Military Justice Refon-n Law this case as an alleged human rights violation has been transferred from the military to the civilian justice system SEDENA has turned over all information and the case lo PGR Prosecution is pending AFTERMATH U On 7 Oct a mainstream Mexican magazine anonymousiy quotec that future Merida funding from the U S to bah Me ico wil be dependent upen th outcome of the investigation into the Tlatlaya requested information from incident DOS confirmed that DOS on the incident U Mexican President Pena Nieto received extensive criticism from the military community for turning his back on indicted soldiers for just doing theiir jobs and from the human rights community for not acting with appropriate speed to investigate the incident Human Rights Watch publically dismissed the GoM's initial account that only three soldiers are responsible for the death of 22 civilians AP and Esquire took lead roles in applying international media attention to the case U1 FEitt6 The unit involved is SEDENA's 102nd Infantry Battalion The Department of State has suspender U S_ funded assistance to this unit pending the results of the investigations According to training records and INVEST detabase research none of the seven service members charged Nave received US training 14 Jan 2015 UNCLASSIFIED 11 F This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu