La Vaca vs CJNG: Market Shooting and the Guns Inside the Prison in Colima

"HEARST" and "Sol Prendido" for Borderland Beat

A butcher’s shop in Colima was shot up by a group of hitmen working for La Vaca. The hitmen left two signs which said the shooting was meant as a warning to authorities that the guns being smuggled inside a prison in Colima to Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) members had to be found and confiscated now. This naturally leads to questions about why La Vaca is so interested in this particular prison and whether contraband guns are really being used to kill inmates inside.

The Butcher Shop Shooting 

During the afternoon of Monday, July 25, 2022, cartel hitmen entered a butcher’s market named Torreón Market, which is located on Rodolfo Chávez Carrillo Street in the city of Colima, within the state of the same name. 

The group had just been dropped off in front of the market moments earlier by a red vehicle. The hitmen, all wearing hoods, were openly carrying long-barrel firearms. Just a few seconds after entering, they began firing into the air as a way of announcing their arrival. 

Employees and customers dropped to the ground and tried to find cover. The hitmen continued shooting and not just in the air, but now firing shots casually around the market, damaging the walls and displays. 

Video Source: Janeth León M

Contains no graphic content. 

In a video shown above an employee of the butcher’s market shows how he and his fellow employees yelled out to each other during the shooting. During the video, the employee filming says “They are shooting with a cuerno de chivo.”

Cuerno de chivo is slang for an AK-47 firearm. The nickname directly translates as goat’s horn, referring to the curved shape of AK-47 magazines.

Another employee can be heard saying “tírate”, or get down. The hitmen walked further into the market and placed two narco message signs within the store.

Both signs had the same message written on them, which was, as translated by Sol Prendido: 

You bitch, if keep putting guns in the prison for the Jaliscos, I'll kill you and your whole fucking family. 

 

This is your first warning. 

 

The hitmen then left the market, re-entered their vehicle and sped away. Many police vehicles arrived on scene, as seen in the video below, after reports about the shooting began being called in.  The officers found that although there was property damage, no person had been injured or killed during the shooting.

Video Source: Diario de Colima

Contains no graphic content. 

The Guns Prisoners Have Snuck Into Jail

These signs left at the butcher’s market were not the first time that a cartel group had sent messages telling Colima prison authorities to stop the CJNG inmates from having guns smuggled in. Earlier this same week, two signs were placed by the same group on the cars of presumably prison employees.

The message, as translated by Sol Prendido:

For all state government personnel. It’s in your best interest to look into the capital's Cereso prison. There is an inmate there who has a gun and is planning a prison riot. This man is known as Thomas from the Jalisco cartel and he is from the city of Tecomán. The state government needs to look into this man’s affairs. 

We have not wanted to bring weapons into this prison. But it’s best that you be fair here. Just as well you need to prevent the inevitable. And as for you Jaliscas, if you bother my family members. Just remember that you also have relatives incarcerated here. 

I can arrange for something to happen to them. Don’t mess with my relatives and I won’t bother yours. You damn Jaliscos, Thomas you faggot, keep fucking off and eventually I’ll kill all of your family members. We won’t show mercy here. What has just been said is set in stone. 

We are the absolute Colima Independent Cartel

The other sign is largely the same message, just a shorter version. The messages are signed by the Colima Independent Cartel, which is the CJNG splinter group formed by José Bernabé Brizuela Meraz, alias “La Vaca”. 

At one point his group was primarily known as “Los Mezcales” but now the group seems to only identify itself by its new name, Colima Independent Cartel  or “Cártel Independiente de Colima”, in mantas such as the ones above. For all the background information on why La Vaca and his group broke off from the CJNG, see this previous story.  

And here's why La Vaca has real reason to be worried about guns being snuck into this particular prison: because that's exactly what happened earlier this year and the gun was used to kill nine people in a prison fight. 

On January 25, 2022, in this same prison, a brawl broke out between inmates and nine inmates were killed, with seven more injured. 

The day after the prison brawl, the Secretary of Security told reporter Azucena Uresti that prison guards found that the prisoners involved were in possession of cellphones, bladed weapons and most notably, a firearm. He said that their current working theory was that these weapons were delivered by being thrown inside the walls of the prison. 

The Secretary of Security stated that of all the nine men who were killed, all nine had received gunshot injuries, and that two of the seven injured men had also received gunshot injuries. 

So What's This All About?

Why does La Vaca care so much about what is going on within this prison? The best answer we can find lies in a set of recent narco message signs that were previously covered by Ivan and Sol, which were left on July 18, 2022. 

These signs specifically say that prison personnel who “mess with” an inmate known as “W” will be dealt with harshly. The mantas details that prison staff needs to place “W” in a cell within the prison near other La Vaca-associated inmates. 

The request is presumably made so that “W” remains safe while he’s inside and CJNG-associated inmates are unable to harm him while he serves out his time. La Vaca adds that prison staff will personally he held responsible if anything happens to “W”. 

So who is “W”? W is one of the aliases of Cristian Jonathán 'N', known more commonly as “El Camaney”, the brother in law of La Vaca. 

Camaney was arrested just about a month ago in the northern region of Colima municipality. He was found to be in possession of fake state government uniforms and fake IDs, which he was using in order to evade law enforcement detection. He was also found to be in possession of belts of ammo but he was allegedly not found to be carrying a firearm. For more details on Camaney’s arrest and his importance within the state, see this previous post on his arrest. 

Sources: Oscar Adrián Luna, Excelsior, Colima Dia, Diario de Colima, Meganoticias, VDN Noticias, Contexto Colima , Oscar Adrián Luna, Previous BB Story