Cártel Independiente de Colima leaves banner accusing and threatening CJNG leaders

Redlogarythm for Borderland Beat

The narcomanta found in Villa de Álvarez, Colima.

    Yesterday, Wednesday 23rd, at around 8:00 am a narcomanta was found by elements of the municipal police in the town of Villa de Álvarez, Colima. Written with few gramatical errors but still with a confusing use of syntax, the banner read as follows:

    "Miss Governor. Don´t believe everything Julio Alberto Castillo Rodriguez orders to be published. He was the one responsible of all the violence we are seeing here in Colima and Omar Alejandro Ochoa Paz was the one ordering the killing of Commander Sergio Chávez Ruiz since Miguel Jarquín Jarquín and [sic] gave the order from him, so don´t believe all that the "jaliscas" say because they want to take our State and I am the one being touched my balls and I don´t fear them. Julio or Charro Chaparro Pizano or CR, here we are and we aren´t going anywhere. And you lack my people because I have more than 250 hitmen for everything. You already know fucking dealers, someday I´m going to get you. Puro Cártel de Colima.

Yours sincerely: the one of the black beret"

    For understanding the background behind the narcomanta we should remember that Colima, a small State trapped between the borders of Jalisco and Michoacán, has always been a big prize for most criminal organizations operating in Mexico´s southwest. The existance of the port of Manzanillo -a key point for the introduction of weapons, chemical precursors coming from South East Asia and Latin America and cocaine coming from the ports of Central America, Colombia, Perú and Ecuador- has been the main reason for Colima´s long tradition of organized crime presence; from the original Amezcua Contrera organization (the so called "Cártel de Colima") to several Sinaloa-affiliated groups and more recently the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) -with confirmed presence at least since 2012- which managed to coopt much of the regional underworld.

For a better understanding of Colimás organized crime panorama we highly recommend the in-depth covering that our analyst and compañera Hearst did in this incredible report.

    The reason for the narcomanta found yesterday must be found in the current infighting between CJNG and Los Mezcales/Cártel Independiente de Colima. The latter being an initially CJNG-affiliated regional criminal group once led by José Bernabé Brizuela Meraz aka La Vaca/La Bestia (accused of co-instigatingin the June 2021 attack against Omar García Harfuch and captured in August 2022) it splitted from its mother organization in February 2022 amid the rumours of El Mencho having died. 

José Bernabé Brizuela Meraz aka La Vaca at the time of his last capture. August 2022

Visit this article written by Hearst, Sol Prendido and Itzli for a better understanding of the conflict between the Cartel Independiente de Colima and CJNG.

    Since last year, the skirmishes between both groups have been continuous, as well as a certainly curious "banner war" between the two entities which constantly exchange accusations and threats.

    On this occasion the Cártel Independiente de Colima issues the narcomanta directly to Indira Vizcaino Silva, MORENA Governor of Coahuila since 2021, stating that the high levels of violence in Colima have been caused by Julio Alberto Castillo Rodriguez aka Ojo de Vidrio, El Mencho´s son in law (he is married to his daughter Jessica Johana) captured finally in April 2016 and directing CJNG operations in Colima from jail. On the field -always according to his rivals- Castillo Rodríguez operates through Aldrin Miguel Jarquín Jarquín -CJNG operator in the port of Manzanillo, captured in March 2022- and an individual identified as Omar Alejandro Ochoa Paz. 

    At the same time the Cártel Independiente de Colima addresses an individual identified as Pizano/CR, which must be Juan Carlos Pizano Ornelas, CJNG boss in the plazas of Tapalpa, San Gabriel and Zapotitlán de Badillo and linked to the December 2022 kidnapping of SEDENA colonel José Isidro Grimaldo Muñoz, as our comrade Hearst reported in this article.

Scheme of CJNG´s Colima leadership according to its rivals from Los Mezcales /Cártel Independiente de Colima

    In conclussión, the present banner adds a new event to the long list of incididents between CJNG and the Cártel Independiente de Colima/Los Mezcales. Overall, if the assumptions made by its rival are true, it means that CJNG´s operations in the State of Colima are managed mostly by high/middle ranking members of CJNG directly from prison, confirming the tight grip that the group has managed to hold around both the South-Western coastal region and the penitentiary system where most of its leadership (including a relevant numbers of both Mencho´s and González Valencia/Los Cuinis clans are currently secluded)