The Mariano Sánchez Añón Insurrectional Cell ( es, Célula Insurreccional Mariano Sánchez Añón, CI-MSA/FAI) was an

urban guerrilla An urban guerrilla is someone who fights a government using unconventional warfare or domestic terrorism in an urban environment. Theory and history The urban guerrilla phenomenon is essentially one of industrialised society, resting both ...

group in the

Greater Mexico City Greater Mexico City refers to the conurbation around Mexico City, officially called Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico ( es, Zona metropolitana del Valle de México). It encompasses Mexico City itself and 60 adjacent municipalities of the S ...

area.

History

The group was founded at the beginning of 2010 in a boom of anarchist cells in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and the State of Mexico. It was active during the arrest of several militants in the demonstrations of the Indignados and

Yo Soy 132 Yo Soy 132, commonly stylized as #YoSoy132, was a protest movement composed of Mexican university students from both private and public universities, residents of Mexico, claiming supporters from about 50 cities around the world. It began as op ...

movements, as well as the 2012 Mexico riots, where they broke violently into the marches, generally confronting the Grenadiers. After the repression suffered in these protests and the seizure of power by then-president

Enrique Peña Nieto Enrique Peña Nieto (; born 20 July 1966), commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican politician who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party ...

, this and other groups began to carry out sabotage and attacks, increasing in intensity and damage caused. In an interview with members of the group, they claimed to have carried out attacks and sabotage in the early 2000s, but it was not until December 2010 that, together with other anarchist cells, they merged into the Mariano Sánchez Añon Insurrectional Cell. The group was investigated by

CISEN The ''Centro Nacional de Inteligencia'' or CNI, is a Mexican intelligence agency controlled by the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection. Until 2018, the agency's official title was ''Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional'' ...

, for being a member of the "Coordinadora de las Sombras", responsible for breaking into peaceful demonstrations, carrying out street paints and violent actions on banks and ATMs, as well as placing them in second place on their list of threats against the stability of the country, leaving behind social movements and Marxist guerrillas in the state of Guerrero. This was despite the fact that since 2016 these groups had a significant decrease in their activities, moving to other more lucrative crimes such as drug trafficking or huachicoleo.

Activities

December 9 Events Pre-1600 * 536 – Gothic War: The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome unopposed; the Gothic garrison flees the capital. * 730 – Battle of Marj Ardabil: The Khazars annihilate an Umayyad army and kill its commander, ...

, 2010, the group claimed the murder of Commander Isaías García Zúñiga, with a firearm shot in the right temple, at the 29th kilometer of the Mexico-Texcoco highway in the municipality of Chicoloapan. The authorities had treated the attack as a suicide, closing any line of investigation. On

November 5 Events Pre-1600 *1138 – Lý Anh Tông is enthroned as emperor of Vietnam at the age of two, beginning a 37-year reign. *1499 – The '' Catholicon'', written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc in Tréguier, is published; this is the first Bre ...

, 2011, a fire in a securities van was reported in broad daylight, the CI-MSA/FAI claimed responsibility of the attack, although the authorities treated this incident as a short-circuit incident. Days earlier on

October 13 Events Pre-1600 * 54 – Roman emperor Claudius dies from poisoning under mysterious circumstances. He is succeeded by his adoptive son Nero, rather than by Britannicus, his son with Messalina. * 409 – Vandals and Alans cross the P ...

, members of the CI-MSA set fire to five armored vans belonging to the

private security A private security company (PSC) is a business entity which provides armed or unarmed security services and expertise to clients in the private or public sectors. Overview Private security companies are defined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Stat ...

company "Panamericana". On

October 20 Events Pre-1600 *1568 – The Spanish Duke of Alba defeats a Dutch rebel force under William the Silent. * 1572 – Eighty Years' War: Three thousand Spanish soldiers wade through fifteen miles of water in one night to effect the re ...

, 2012, there was a shooting attack on patrol 282 of the

Valle de Chalco Valle de Chalco, officially named Valle de Chalco Solidaridad, is a municipality located in the State of Mexico, Mexico, on the eastern outskirts of the metropolitan area of Mexico City. Formerly part of the municipality of Chalco, it was split ...

Municipal Police, killing its three crew members and leaving one more missing. The Mariano Sánchez Añón Insurrectional Cell claimed responsibility for the death of the municipal police officers but denied that they had kidnapped a fourth officer.

References

{{Reflist 2010 establishments in Mexico Anarchism in Mexico Defunct anarchist militant groups Guerrilla movements in Latin America Left-wing militant groups in Mexico Military history of Mexico Political organizations based in Mexico Terrorism in Mexico