Drug war for control of the plaza in Michoacán unleashes violence in Uruapan; CJNG, Familia Michoacana and Los Viagras among the most violent groups
Mexican Army personnel repelled an aggression that they suffered at the hands of alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) while patrolling the community of Zirapóndiro in Uruapan, Michoacán, which left a balance of five detainees and two people injured, including a soldier.
According to information from the federal authorities, the two people who were hit by the bullets had to be transferred to a hospital in the region to treat their wounds; although rumors indicate that they lost their lives minutes later, this information has not been confirmed by the authorities.
The attack would have occurred in the vicinity of the Zirapóndiro-Tiamba site, right in a wooded area that is part of the daily tours carried out by the security forces and that when faced with the hitmen they began to shoot at them.
The Army personnel managed to neutralize the aggression and force their attackers to flee on foot leaving behind two of the trucks in which they were traveling; however, in the foot chase they managed to catch three men and two women.
In addition to the five detainees who said they belonged to a cell of the CJNG, the authorities also secured another person who was injured; meanwhile, another group managed to escape the shooting in more trucks. The authorities also secured long guns and the tactical vests of the hitmen that were embroidered with the initials of the four-letter cartel.
New leader of the CJNG controls five states of the country
Information from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) places Audias Flores Silva, alias “El Jardinero”, as a prominent member in the chain of command of the CJNG and that could place him as the next successor of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes (“El Mencho”) at the head of the second largest criminal organization in the country.
The US authorities locate as the main area of operation of “El Jardinero” the states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Guerrero and Michoacán, where he controls drug labs for the manufacture of methamphetamines and leads the armed group “Fuerzas Especiales Limones” that takes its name from the extortions to which they subject the producers of the region.
It should be remembered that Michoacán is one of the entities in dispute between the CJNG and other criminal groups such as La Familia Michoacana and Guerreros Unidos, which has turned the border with Jalisco into one of the most violent regions and with the highest number of confrontations between rival organizations.
Just in the last year Michoacán added more than 1,400 intentional homicides -1,177 by firearm- due to the increase of violence generated by the drug trafficking and the advance of the CJNG.
In addition to the CJNG, other criminal groups such as Los Viagras, Los Tlacos and Los Rojos, among others, have contributed to the escalation of violence that this afternoon also claimed the life of a taxi driver who was killed in the Tejerías neighborhood, of Uruapan.
According to information from the local authorities, the killers of the taxi driver were traveling on board the unit as passengers, however, so far the motives of the crime are unknown.
Witnesses who called the authorities to report the homicide indicated to local media that the body of the taxi driver was lying on the ground a few meters from his vehicle and with several bullet wounds in the body. Rumors suggest that the motive could have been a robbery or a threat directed at the other taxi drivers who refuse to work as hawks for the criminal groups.
Source: Infobae
