Morelia.— Over the past four years, the violent incursion of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) it has mainly increased in three states: Michoacán, Zacatecas and Guanajuato
While the overall goal is to extend the criminal group to establish their routes for the transfer of drugs to the United States, in each entity the reasons why they were present were different and the level of violence in those places has increased in recent years.
For example, in Michoacán, according to various sources, the offensive is due to the leader of the organization, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, tries to conquer his homeland.
In Zacatecas, geographic location and connectivity have made the state one of its objectives, as it is the mandatory route connecting the Pacific Ocean to the major border regions in the north of the country and to the United States; But in the past decade, Zacatecas has suffered the settlement of at least five cartels, mainly as a result of the commercialization of fentanyl, which has become popular on US soil and is cheaper, stronger and more deadly than cocaine and heroin.
Also read: CJNG attacks kill 3 criminals in Michoacán
In Guanajuato, their presence has been more noticeable since October 2017 when José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, El Marro, leader of Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel (CSRL) He openly declared war on them to combat fuel theft in the so-called huachicol triangle, in the municipalities of Apaseo el Grande, Salamanca, León, Irapuato and Celaya.
Dominate your country
Michoacán was one of the first states in the country where the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel began its armed expansion in 2014 and, according to residents and authorities of the regions where it attacked, everything was born out of a “whim” of its criminal leader.
Consulted sources explain that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes’ goal is to conquer his homeland: Aguililla.
However, it was at the end of 2019 when the CJNG offensive to enter Michoacán intensified; The first case was on August 30, 2019 in the municipality of Tepalcatepec, in which Mencho claimed the death of nine of his hitmen and 11 others who were injured after the population and local police responded to the attack.
“Before the attacks, we received threats by phone, messages and via emissaries who wanted to enter the CJNG, as they were then. Knights Templar”Explained José Luis, a businessman who lives in Tierra Caliente.
Also read: “El Grande”, an alleged member of the CJNG and named after at least 10 murders in Edomex, falls
The farmer reported that the residents cooperated to prevent the criminals from entering, because on that occasion they informed the authorities about the threats and ignored them. “We didn’t understand why the Jalisco cartel wanted to take over our cities, but now we know it’s pure ego to say they have control over their home state and want to return to retire here,” he said.
On October 14, 2019, another CJNG command ambushed state police Aguililla, in which 14 officers were killed and two others injured in the town of El Aguaje, in addition to having previously committed several massacres in the municipality of Uruapan.
In 2020, the attacks of that criminal organization did not stop in the region Hot country and on the contrary, they have spread to other municipalities such as Los Reyes, Tocumbo, Tingüindín, Peribán and Zamora.
In December last year, CJNG cells carried out attacks in 10 different municipalities in Michoacán, most of them on the Jalisco border, in just three days.
The CJNG had been present in Michoacán since 2014, when the self-defense groups eliminated the Los Caballeros Templarios cartel.
Oseguera spread his cells in different municipalities of Michoacán, especially in Tierra Caliente, Sierra and Sierra-Costa.
Also read: They report clashes in Aguililla, Michoacán, between federal forces and members of the CJNG
The 2018 split of the said cartel also caused a rift among its lieutenants, who were expelled from Michoacán due to the Loose Viagras cartelEl Mencho’s obsession with returning to his homeland, Aguililla, led him to confront the surviving civilian armed groups, which he has attacked with greater intensity since 2019.
In addition, Oseguera Cervantes faces a fight with Érick Valencia Salazar, El 85, his former founder of the CJNG. Valencia Salazar has already ripped off several municipalities in Michoacán and Jalisco, but also formed a criminal bloc with the Sierra Santana brothers from Los Viagras.