Last week's gun battle made residents of Union Union fear the dark past will return as Zetas gang raging period.

Cartel del Noreste (CDN - Northeastern Gang), a branch of the Zetas drug crime organization, over the weekend swept into the town of Villa Union in the state of Coahuila and fierce gunfire with Mexican police killed at least 21 people. .

The bloody shootings made Villa Union residents skeptical about the "gun-hugging" policy of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and feared that the specter of violence would return to the 2010-2013 period. , when the Zetas gang naturally killed, burned cars, abducted the people of Coahuila.

Villa Union witnessed the massacre that killed 70 people in 2011 in connection with the Zetas. The horrific past makes people here understand that can not be tolerated with drug cartels.

"You cannot give drug criminals hugs and hope not to receive a bullet," said an unnamed former police officer in Allende, a town about 20 km from Villa Union. "The only way to fight and prevent them from coming back to dominate our towns is with guns."

In 2011, the former policeman had to take his family to flee threats from Zetas, but now he doesn't want to have to run away again. Many people here share this fear.

"The situation doesn't look good. I'm afraid they will come back," said Sandra Zedillo, a Villa Union resident. The atmosphere in the town is more frightening, gloomy after the funeral on Tuesday of a local firefighter kidnapped and murdered by the gang.

"It is painful," said a rancher. "That firefighter died unjustly".

Another resident said fear arose following a gun battle over the weekend, when 100-150 gunmen from the CDN opened fire on government buildings, killing two workers and four policemen, fighting with force. amount of function and only recedes after nearly an hour.

The gunmen arrested said the CDN carried out the attack to re-establish control at Villa Union and turned this into a drug trafficking path to the US border. But many people believe that the purpose of this gang is to dominate the entire Mexican - American border area.

"Things will get worse," said one man who witnessed the violence at Villa Union. "Like the Zetas gang once said not to stay, but they still hang on here."

Coahuila state governor Miguel Riquelme is planning to prevent drug gangs from entering the state. Like Zetas, the CDN's main territory is the border city of Nuevo Laredo in the state of Tamaulipas.

"This plan is not to challenge gangs, but to protect our people," Governor Riquelme said during a meeting with military officers at Villa Union. He announced that he would set up three security posts with about 40 soldiers and would add more forces if needed.

Although President Obrador has declared the policy of arresting drug lords and the fight against drug gangs in the period 2006-2012 of the previous government is a failure, the Zetas gang has clearly weakened and the situation The violence has been significantly reduced in some border states like Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.

Locals now worry that drug cartels will emerge after years of Mexican government under Obrador implemented a "gun-hug hugs" policy.

Many dream about the days when Mexican Marines patrolled and protected the area before President Obrador transferred them on another mission. Marines are thought not to be bribed by gangs and determined not to compromise in their confrontation.

"Marines are the only force I trust," a local mechanic said. "Most other forces accept bribes."