The wounded officers called for help over the phone, but when the rescue team arrived after an hour, they witnessed many of their comrades' bodies on the road.

That's the situation Mexican police officers went through during the ambush of the New Generation Jalisco gang (CJNG) on October 14 in the town of El Aguaje, Michoacan state. Unequal gun battle killed 13 Michoacan state police officers and injured nine others.

More than 48 hours after the ambush, the bodies of the police remained at the scene, with countless shells around, showing the process of investigating the scene through the speakers or conducted in a panic.

The massacre is one of several recent clashes between Mexican security forces and drug cartels. Just three days after the tragedy in El Aguaje, gunmen from the Sinaloa cartel even "displayed their strength" to a greater extent in the city of Culiacan, in order to rescue Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of the notorious drug lord Joaquin. Guzman, otherwise known as "El Chapo".

Observers argue that such clashes show the weakness of Mexican law enforcement, which is considered to have failed to fulfill its responsibility before the ruling gang criminals, while many of they accept compromise with criminals.

The level of challenge officers faced during an ambush in El Aguaje village was shown by a police radio broadcast recorded as they begged for reinforcements.

"Please hurry, someone was injured," an officer said in the radio, surrounded by gunfire and roar of the people hit. A moment later, a policeman exclaimed: "I'm going to die".

According to reports, reinforcements arrived at the scene only an hour later, when gangsters and homemade armored vehicles with heavy weapons left. "They have any chance of resisting the criminal group," a friend of the murdered officer said during a hurried memorial service held in the city of Morelia.

A Michoacan state police officer said they even had to buy bullets themselves, and complained about cheap, poor-quality helmets. "We do not have the tools to protect ourselves, nor the support we need to eliminate any criminal group," the person said.

The New Generation Jalisco (CJNG), the gang that carried out the ambush on October 14, is a rapidly growing group that aims to dominate the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacan state. Despite being extremely aggressive, well-financed and well equipped, CJNG still faces smaller criminal groups, deeply rooted in the region and better connected with politicians and Local police officials.

Another tape of CJNG's radio broadcast on the Internet shows the ambush in the town of El Aguaje, which was conducted to break up the "police - criminal" alliance.

In the video, the leader of CJNG ordered his subordinates to send messages threatening the police connected with the rival factions. "We want the people and the government to know why they are attacked," he said.

For the residents of the town of El Aguaje, the ambush only helped to confirm what they doubted so long. "This place is now Jalisco's territory, although it belongs to other groups before. The police are on the other side so they don't come here often without an army escort," said a woman living near the site. out ambush said.

She also rejected the government's statement that police officers were sent to enforce a court arrest warrant, while suspecting police officials had accepted "good giving" for the gang. "It is crazy that these police came here. They were thrown into a massacre," she said.

"Police officers working in dangerous areas cannot immediately enforce the law," said Falko Ernst, senior expert at the International Crisis Group. "They always have to find a way to adapt to the criminal world. That's part of the game."

Corruption is also a serious problem for the police team, stemming from the low salaries that officers have to extract in part to buy their own bullets and uniforms. Several families of officers killed in the village of El Aguaje refused to attend a memorial service to protest the small financial support for the deaths of their relatives.

Experts Ernst assess the crisis and burden on Mexican police is now even worse due to security strategy "hug instead of bullets" of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He ordered avoiding direct confrontation with gangs to overcome the tough anti-crime policy of his predecessor.

Obrador peace commitment will come when new social programs help young people escape poverty without committing crimes. He also regularly sent out calls for Mexicans to set new social ethical standards.

The Mexican president also asserted that the newly formed national guard would help enforce the law. However, this army is still primarily deployed to prevent migrants from coming to the US, instead of chasing criminal groups on the street.

While Mexico is still waiting for justice, a new generation of adult residents only know life between constant conflict and indistinguishable from good and bad. A 9-year-old girl in the town of El Aguaje told how her family hurried to hide in the bedroom until the gunfire subsided. "The sound is very loud. I think it will continue forever."