Colima Leadership: CJNG's El Sky

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat

As Colima continues to heat up and gain more and more attention for its organized crime activity, who else can we learn more about from the Colima military intelligence chart that was presented in February 2022. (Covered in more detail in this previous story.)

The CJNG side of the chart has more than twice as many men named. Whether this is indicative of the relative size of the CJNG operation as compared with the SInaloa Cartel operation, or if this comes from a lack of intelligence data is unknown. On the CJNG side,  are some well known figures, such as La Vaca and El Chorro, as well as a slew of characters with no publicly available criminal record.

The criminal history of Julio Alberto Castillo Rodríguez, alias “El Chorro”, and Aldrin Miguel Jarquín Jarquín, alias “El Chaparrito”, has been covered in this previous story and the criminal history of José Bernabé Brizuela Meraz, alias “La Vaca”, has been covered in this previous story. 

Meanwhile figures like Cristian Jonathan, José Alfredo, José Jesús Jarquín Jarquín and César Enrique Díaz De León Sauceda have almost no public record, which makes piecing together their criminal history impossible as of right now.

Carlos Macías Ayard, aliases “El Sky” and “La Antena” is believed by the military to be one of the CJNG leaders who are in charge of operations in the state of Colima. In the year 2022, El Sky is believed to be approximately 36 years old. (Source)

The Beginnings

In 2012, Colima’s Secretary General Rodríguez Alcaráz alleged that law enforcement has evidence which links El Sky to criminal activity since as far back as 2009, when he was approximately 23 years old. In the early days of his criminal career, El Sky was said to have been working as an independent small-time drug dealer with no larger cartel affiliation but shortly into his career, he is believed to have joined the CJNG. (Source, Source) 

Investigators believe that at first El Sky worked for the CJNG as a halcone, or low-level lookout. Over time, he was promoted within the organization and he became the manager of multiple tienditas, or small drug sale locations. He reportedly continued to move up the ranks of the CJNG and by 2012, he was described by Proceso magazine as the plaza boss for the municipality of Tecomán.  (Source, Source) 

Two men, Geovanny Ortiz Martínez, alias “El Pano”, and José Luis Beltrán Flores, alias “El Poli”, allegedly  worked under El Sky as drug distributors. Meanwhile Enrique Maldonado Vázquez “El Kike”, Jorge Enrique Bojórquez López, alias “El Ojón”, and Ricardo Gutiérrez Olivera, alias “El Burro” all reportedly worked in the organization as drug dealers and were directly involved in drug sales. (Source)

One of El Sky’s top hitmen was named Francisco Alberto García Oliveros, alias "El Paquito". El Paquito was native to Tecomán and he began working for Sky all the way back in 2009, when Sky was just beginning to climb the ranks of the organization. At the time, El Paquito worked for him as a driver but as the years passed, he was entrusted with more and more responsibilities, becoming the administrator of drug sale money and the leader of the hitmen for the group. (Source)

A String of Executions

During October 2010, El Paquito was involved in executing a police commander in the town of Cerro de Ortega. According to State Attorney General Yolanda Verduzco Guzmán, the commander was killed for having refused to collaborate with El Sky’s CJNG group. 

On August 19, 2010, the dead body of a Federal Police investigator named Jesus Mejia Ceballos was found on a highway in Tecomán. Many years later, hitman El Paquito told law enforcement “that the criminal group to which he belongs is responsible for the murder [of Mejia Ceballos].” Then on July 29, 2011, El Paquito allegedly executed municipal police officer Jose Angel Lopez Garcia in Tecomán. (Source, Source, Source) 

On September 5, 2011, state prosecutor Francisco Javier Vélez Ramírez’s vehicle was approached by two vehicles with hitmen inside while he was driving to work. The hitmen opened fire on his vehicle but Prosecutor Vélez Ramírez was not one to go down quietly and he attempted to defend himself by returning fire on his attackers with a pistol. He allegedly succeeded in wounding one of his attackers. However the armed men fired over 100 rounds of ammunition from automatic weapons and were successful in killing the 30 year old prosecutor. (Source, Source, Source) 

Crime scene of the 2011 execution of Prosecutor Vélez Ramírez.

Prosecutor Vélez Ramírez had been working at the Attorney General’s office for over 6 years and he was assigned to handling drug dealing cases at the time of his death. Proceso reports that Vélez Ramírez was killed for “allegedly for having refused to release two members of the CJNG detained by the Justice Police.” (Source, Source)

Likely in response to the killing, 6 alleged members of the CJNG were arrested in Cerro de Ortega, in the municipality of Tecomán in 2011. (Source)

On July 15, 2012, two brothers, who were originally from the town of El Comedor, in the municipality of Aquila, in the neighboring state of Michoacán, disappeared in the municipality of Tecomán. One of the brothers, Martín Acevedo Espíndola, had recently graduated with a degree in psychology and lived in Tecomán, where he worked in a rehabilitation center. His brother Francisco Acevedo Espíndola was a professor at the Tecnológico de Coalcomán and was visiting with him in Tecomán when they both went missing. (Source, Source, Source)

Later, El Sky would admit to being involved in their death as part of his confession. He said he had the two brothers kidnapped and they were murdered on a ranch in Tecomán. (Source, Source, Source)

The Downfall

Nearly a year after the assassination, on September 12, 2012, El Sky was arrested in the city of Villa de Álvarez, in Colima, while aboard a white Volkswagen Bora. Accompanying him was his significant other, María Eugenia Hernández Ortiz. (Source, Source, Source, Source)

While in custody, El Sky gave statements to authorities that led to the raid of two CJNG safehouses and the opening of five new homicide investigations related to CJNG operations. El Sky eventually gave a confession of being involved in 21 homicides. (Source, Source, Source, Source)

Two videos of the press conferences and perp walk given following El Sky’s arrest. Video 1, Video 2

Sky gave authorities a location where he said the two brothers from Michaocan were buried. Two remains were later found at the given location however forensic testing determined that the DNA of the remains did not match the brothers. (Source, Source, Source, Source)

On November 26, 2012, El Paquito and another hitman, Patricio Mora Espíndola, alias “El Pato”, spotted the military approaching the house they were staying in. The two men may have suspected that the military was moving in to arrest them, so they opened fire on the soldiers. The soldiers managed to repel the attack and arrest the pair. In their possession, the soldiers found an AK-47 rifle, a 9mm pistol, ammo, as well as two packets of methamphetamine. (Source)

On November 27, 2012, officers moved in to arrest El Sky’s drug distributors and dealers. El Pano, El Poli. El Kike, El Ojón, and El Burro were all arrested in the Santa Elena neighborhood of Tecomán. They were found to be in possession of various firearms and drugs. (Source)

While El Sky was in custody and awaiting sentencing in 2013, armed men attempted to assassinate his cousin Felipe Ayard Buenrostro however they were unsuccessful and his cousin survived the attack. (Source) In April 2015, El Sky was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison. (Source, Source) 

During February 2022, he was named on a chart of active CJNG leaders in Colima which was presented at a presidential press conference. This may suggest he has been released from prison early and he may have returned to working as the plaza boss of Tecomán. (Source)

Sources: Hyperlinked within story.